POP-UP #1, from Blood Moon Comics on March 22nd, 2023, will haunt your dreams with the story of a woman desperate to make her Pop-Up Horror Museum a success, even if it means acquiring real-life cursed objects.
The Details
- Written by: Jon Clark
- Art by: Matthieu Pereira
- Colors by: Panta Rea
- Letters by: April Brown
- Cover art by: Jon Clark
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: March 22, 2023
Is It Good?
Some horror tropes are axiomatic. Never split up when searching a house. Never go in the basement by yourself when you hear a weird noise. And never assume the cursed objects aren’t really cursed. Oy!
Well, it’s a safe bet POP-UP #1 is going to prove the rule right again with a creepy chiller from Jon Clark and Blood Moon Comics. The story centers on a mother so determined to make her pop-up museum of horrors a success, she loads it with every cursed object, crime scene artifact, haunted heirloom anyone could possibly want, and more. Of course, you can expect much trouble to follow.
The use of a pop-up museum gives the old haunted collection motif a fresh coat of paint because it opens up the opportunity to take the horror show on the road. Clark’s use of a chilling version of just one of the museum’s many stories sets the tone immediately to get your shorthairs standing, and the creepy tour the owner, Diane Strickland, gives to a delivery man gleefully hints at all the fiendish scares Diane unwittingly assembled.
The key to this issue’s success is anticipation. It’s like sitting at a dinner table and having the host set out one scrumptious meal after another before digging in. You see it all before getting your first satisfying bite. This comic is the horror lover’s equivalent of letting a kid loose in a candy store, so the anticipation is off the charts.
Matthieu Pereira’s art work is solid. The loose, sketchy style enhances the horror atmosphere with gritty, unclean characters you wouldn’t want to stand near, much less be touched by. The characters are ugly or troubled, but the unpleasantness of the characters’ appearance adds to the discomfort of the setting, which is a good thing when it comes to horror comics.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with a young boy sitting in a sheriff’s office, holding a bloody sewing basket. His father explains to the sheriff how the boy has been having visions and nightmares about an old witch telling the boy to do terrible things. When the sheriff leans down to look inside the sewing basket, the boy suddenly stabs the sheriff in both eyes with knitting needles.
Now, Diana Strickland acknowledges the story about the sewing basket was slightly embellished, but it’s all part of the show. Diana’s sunk every last penny she has into creating a Pop-Up Horror Museum in the hopes that word of mouth will lead to a world tour. Her daughter is concerned about the expense of the items acquired.
When a delivery man shows up to drop off the latest acquisitions, Diana gives him a grand tour of the museum, where the unmoving artifacts appear to show signs of life when nobody is looking. We conclude the issue with murder, witchcraft, and hauntings, and that’s just from the tour.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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POP-UP #1 is the kind of creepy, gory, unsettling comic that horror lovers crave. The characters are just as unsettling as the setting, and the premise of a traveling pop-up museum of horrors is ripe with potential.
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