By Chris Tresson
I'm baaaaack… And this week I’m returning to Dark Horse Comics for another dose of Richard Corben's Shadows On The Grave. I loved the first issue of this series and was left wanting more of it. I do love me some horror comics and I’m really liking what Dark Horse is doing with theirs at the moment. Keep up the good work!
Back to this issue. Issue two of Shadows On The Grave contains three more terrifyingly twisted tales, accompanied by another installment of the ongoing story of "Denaeus." Here we go…
First of all, I have to point out that I liked the issue, though, the stories in this issue were a little less creepy than the ones in the first issue… They’re still fairly creepy and I think you’ll enjoy them all the same. Again, I really liked the art in this issue, but some of it was more enjoyable in places than others. Those are my only gripes with it. Still good, only slightly less than issue one. I’m noticing a bit of a common/recurring theme of greed and family betrayal in Corben’s tales, as well as monsters. He likes the monsters. Mostly monsters created by/from nature. I like both, so I’m not really complaining about that.
I think my favorite story from this issue is the second story in this issue which is called "The Thing From The Swamp"! I really like the art in this one. There’s some really nice panels which Richard Corben has drawn beautifully. I’m still blown away by the fact that this is just one man producing this book and the stories have all been pretty great so far… I think "The Thing From The Swamp" stood out the most for me because of how it ended. Obviously, I’m not going to ruin it by talking about it, but it is a good little story (in a good little book), be sure to check it out.
The ongoing story in this series, "Daenius", looks as if it’s building towards something exciting. I wasn’t all that sure on this one to begin with but I’ve gotten into it since. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. "Daenius" is obviously a bit of a passion piece for Corben and you can kind of tell by the amount of effort he’s put into it. He’s crafting a great story with great art and I’d expect no less from him. The cyclops in this looks fucking ace, too. I’m hoping to see a bit more of him in the next part.
So, that’s that… I enjoyed it. And although I’m enjoying the series so far, I think this is the last time I’ll be reviewing the title. I don’t think there’s going to be much more that I could say about Richard Corben or Shadows On The Grave at this point, so I’m just going to sit back and read this title in my own time.
I’m fairly certain that the quality of the stories will be maintained, and I will be reading the remaining issues of the series. Richard Corben will continue to entertain me with his creepy tales and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for us next issue.
Please join me in finding out!
Score: 4/5
Shadows On The Grave #2
Writer/Artist: Richard Corben
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics