OFFICIAL SILENT HILL HEAVEN REVIEW OF PAST LIFE #3

[Droo]

inor spoilers ahead. I tried to limit details so as to be as vague as possible, but some plot elements are revealed in this review, so avoid if you want to be entirely unspoiled.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Silent Hill: Past Life #3 Review
In this penultimate issue, we rejoin Jebediah and Esther Foster two weeks after the conclusion of the last issue.

After last issue’s introductions to Sherriff Creviston and Jonas and Helene Leek, it was strongly implied that Jebediah knew all three of them from before, despite never having been to Silent Hill before. As Jebediah cuts wood in his backyard, we are treated to explicit flashbacks to the history he shares with the Leeks. I was surprised to find the truth of this element of the miniseries dealt with so quickly after their introduction last issue, and the nature of Jebediah’s history with the Leeks was far more brutal and shocking than I expected. While Jebediah seemed to not remember them last issue, it becomes clear this issue that he now remembers and is perplexed as to their presence in the town.

His reverie is interrupted by Howard Blackwood, the postman introduced in the first issue who bears a startling resemblance to the postman from the Silent Hill 8 trailer. Blackwood seems to be following Jebediah, popping up to direct Jebediah or provide hints or answers. In so doing, he functions almost as a sort of Dahlia-esque figure whose allegiance seems ambiguous at this point. He clearly knows far more about what’s going on in the town and the nature of Silent Hill, making reference to the town’s abilities as a sort of psychic mirror of the subconscience of the residents, as well as the Native Americans’ view of the region first referenced in Silent Hill 2.

Jebediah’s conversation with Blackwood is surprisingly candid, with his violent and deviant past openly discussed with Blackwood, as well as the circumstances leading to his first meeting with Esther. Blackwood listens without seeming surprised, as his own violent past and arrival in Silent Hill are detailed. His knowing grins are quite ominous, and Blackwood may end up playing a more antagonistic role than originally anticipated, leading to interesting speculation on the nature of his lookalike in Silent Hill 8.

Esther, meanwhile, isn’t doing so well since we left her last issue. The baby is soon to arrive, and she is plagued by continuing dreams/visions similar to that she experienced in Issue #2. However, these nightmares have evolved to include an element that is quite unsettling to Esther. She begs Jebediah to take her into Silent Hill for the first time in weeks to attend church before the baby arrives, to which he reluctantly agrees.

The service is a highly fundamentalist one, the content of which is clearly going to prove to be central to the theme of this series, and is delivered by a supremely creepy and intimidating looking preacher named Stone (possible relation/reference to Jimmy Stone from Silent Hill 4?). We learn of Jebediah’s past with Sherriff Creviston, which is similarly violent to that which he shares with the Leeks. Just how Creviston and especially the Leeks have come to reside in Silent Hill is yet to be revealed, but Creviston seems to remember what happened by his knowing smile.

Alarmed by the sermon and this memory, Jebediah forces Esther to leave the church early and they retreat back to the house, where Jebediah goes on to make a very poor personal choice as a certain creature appears to rejoice.

Once again, the writing takes center stage in this dialogue-heavy issue. The dialogue is still strong, but falters into some borderline clichés at times, and seems more heavy-handed and forced than the previous issues. While I appreciate the character- and plot-driven nature of this series, by issue 3 I expected things to pick up more than they did. The revelations about the Leeks, Creviston, and Jebediah’s past are satisfying, but as the penultimate issue of a video game comic spinoff, especially a horror one, I would welcome a bit more action. Where the previous Silent Hill miniseries were far too “action movie” with its armies of misplaced monsters and wisecracking gunslinging protagonists, this series has been surprisingly low key. It’s far better than the aforementioned minis but I would have liked more pick-up in this issue. Perhaps Waltz will deliver that next issue. It may be somewhat too little too late by then to result in an entirely satisfying Silent Hill experience.

Menton3’s art continues to lend great mood and an ethereal feel to the series, but I found the long dialogue between Blackwood and Jebediah to appear too copy-and-pasted. A panel of Blackwood looking serious appeared to be reused multiple times during the scene, as was a panel of him grinning ominously/threateningly. Perhaps this was intentional, though, as Jebediah’s facial expressions vary nicely during the same scene. Menton3 makes very effective use of how he draw Jebediah’s brow and eyes to convey his fear and stress in this scene.

Menton3’s rendition of Reverend Stone is impressively imposing, and I really enjoyed a panel layout with Jebediah, Creviston, and Stone all shown from a similar angle but wildly differing contexts. I found it to be a clever artistic choice. He also portrays Jebediah and Esther as both physically more haggard in appearance this issue than in the first two. The events of this series are clearly taking quite the toll on both of them. Esther’s face begins to bear a striking resemblance to Dahlia Gillespie in a few panels. I wonder if this is foreshadowing something about Esther to occur in the next issue.

Colour is again used sparingly in this issue, with only two instances of much colour. One is a rendering of the vision experienced by Esther, and the other is used in a pivotal moment I shall not spoil here. Suffice to say that the scene snaps the reader out of the otherworldly feeling to a stark, brutal realism. I feel this is the first time we get a glimpse of what the characters actually look like, and the picture is less idealized than the more sketchy depictions of these particular characters.

Overall, then, I would say that while I enjoyed this issue slightly less due to my minor quibbles and expectations detailed above, this is still the superior Silent Hill comic miniseries, and continues to fill me with positive anticipation about Silent Hill 8. I am definitely interested to see what the resolution of this series is, as well, so the story continues to intrigue me despite my frustrations with its lack of action. And who knows? As I said, maybe next issue will crank the insanity up to 11 to deliver a thrilling conclusion. Regardless, this has been thus far an interesting and enjoyable read, if an imperfect one.

7/10

Note: Past Life #3 is set to ship in mid-January.

[simeonalo]

Holy shizzle that was fast! The comics are really getting better for me.