OFFICIAL SILENT HILL HEAVEN REVIEW OF PAST LIFE #2

[Droo]

Some spoilers ahead. You have been warned.


Silent Hill Past Life #2 Review

Tom Waltz’s Silent Hill 8 tie-in and historical Silent Hill tale continues in this issue. Last issue, Jebediah and Esther Foster arrived in Silent Hill to reclaim a house left to Esther by her late uncle. Upon arriving at the house, Jebediah had a flashback to his past in the Dakotas, strongly hinting he was responsible for the massacre of a Native American village. He and his wife were then accosted by a mysterious Native woman with a knife and cuts on her arms. When Jebediah left to get bandages for the woman, leaving Esther alone with her, the mysterious woman hinted that Esther’s desire to make Jebediah a better man through their shared raising of their unborn child may backfire, and that his evil may corrupt them in kind. Jebediah returned with bandages for the woman, but her wounds were suddenly gone and she left them with the knife, claiming to be returning it to Jebediah, who she called “Hellrider”.

In this issue, we see Jebediah’s personality switch to aggressive and impatient as he attempts to deal with the appearance and borderline threats of the Native woman, revealed in this issue to be named Inola. As Jebediah heads into town to meet the Sheriff, Seth Creviston, we are also introduced to Jonas and Helene Leek, who run a tavern in town. All three characters seem to know a lot about Jebediah’s past, hinting that they may already know him somehow, particularly the Leeks who have a surreal and highly confrontational encounter with Jebediah. Sheriff Creviston, who is missing an eye, also strongly implies that the knife left by Inola at the Foster’s house has a history with Jebediah. Has Jebediah been to Silent Hill before and just doesn’t remember it? Or is something more otherworldly going on? Since this is Silent Hill, the reader cannot know for sure which to predict, but my money is on the characters here being less of independently existing human beings and possibly subconscious constructs a la Maria in Silent Hill 2 and almost the entire cast of Shattered Memories. Aside: is it just me or if the Sheriff’s last name a pun on “crevice town”, referring to the myriad chasms corrupting the streets in the video games?

Meanwhile, a second plot unfolds with Esther at the house, as she experiences a vision of a native women dying during childbirth and encounters Inola once again, who indicates that she and other interested parties have a vested interest in Esther’s unborn child. I detect possible Alessa parallels to this plot and wonder if this prequel miniseries may lay the foundations for The Order’s belief in God’s rebirth through a human child which led to the abuses suffered by Alessa Gillespie in Silent Hill 1 and Walter Sullivan in Silent Hill 4.

Waltz’s writing continues to be quite strong in this issue. Dialogue is believable and engaging, and the introduction of the Leeks and Sheriff Creviston are intriguing as are the hints they drop about Jebediah's past and their possible connections to him. There’s just enough hinting here to pique interest without being over the top. A hinted past affair between Helene Leek and Jebediah is sure to come into central focus later on in the series. There are also strong hints that Jebediah may somehow be responsible for Sheriff Creviston’s missing eye. The reference to Toluca Prison also is likely to come into play later, and I look forward to learning more about the place besides what little we know from Silent Hill 2. Jebediah’s aggressive personality and Esther’s naiveté are further fleshed out in this issue. He seems significantly less pleasant in this issue than he did in the last issue. It makes it difficult to decide if the reader wants to cheer for him as protagonist or treat him as a possible antagonist. Esther seems right now to be the likely heroine of the story, but she too could have her issues to be revealed as most characters in this series are far from healthy functioning human beings.

Menton3’s art continues to crackle in this issue, as heavy use of surreal imagery and arcane symbols permeate. Characters fluctuate from highly realistic and lifelike one moment to stylized and sketchy depending on the scene, adding some tension and unease to the scenes in which they appear. The skull-faced creature that menaces Jebediah and Esther unseen is incredibly creepy. A possible visual reference to “the 9 red squares” save spot at the end of Silent Hill 2 appears in the layout of a scene between Jebediah and Sheriff Creviston. The art is nearly devoid of colour, with each scene being primarily dichromatic between black and a single other colour. It helps to establish the mood to the scene. Jebediah’s scenes are primarily very dark and sketchy, while Esther’s are white/bright and more realistic. However, Esther’s lightly toned scenes also allow Menton3 to effectively use shadow to lend a monstrous look to Esther and especially Inola as necessary. There is a lot of use of blank space in this issue, and one minor criticism is that more content could be added to this issue that is otherwise taken up by large sections of art. However, these lend to the surreal/psychedelic mood and arguably have substantive content of their own.

Much like last issue, this one is about mood, atmosphere, and plot/character than it is about being outright scary. This is small criticism though, since the emphasised elements are so strong. It gives me a lot of hope and expectation for Silent Hill 8, as Tom Waltz is scripting that game as well. If Past Life doesn’t derail itself towards the end and can maintain this mood and intriguing plot without the resolution of it being wholly unsatisfying, then this miniseries and Silent Hill 8 could possibly be shaping up to be amongst the best this series has had in quite some time.

8/10

[The Adversary]

I don't understand why these reviews need two separate threads. Shouldn't at least one be locked to avoid double-up conversations?

[Droo]

Vixx asked me to post it in both sections for maximum exposure.