POP-UP #3, from Blood Moon Comics on 6/28/23, unleashes the full horror of Diane’s pop-up museum when the exhibits come to life to claim their next victims.
The Details
- Written by: Jon Clark
- Art by: Matthieu Pereira
- Colors by: Jon Clark
- Letters by: April Brown
- Cover art by: Jon Clark
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: June 28, 2023
Is It Good?
Yes, that’s the stuff right there. At some point, a horror story has to stop hinting and teasing about what’s going to happen and deliver the goods. POP-UP #3 delivers the goods in a big way with horrific imagery, creepiness, blood, pain, and fear. Do you want scary? You get scary.
When last we left Diane, her daughter Beth, and Beth’s boyfriend Shawn, the museum exhibits seemed to be making increasingly hard-to-explain noises and movements. A doll falls off a chair? Gravity. A strange creaking noise comes from an unoccupied room? The building is just settling. Now, the full fury of a museum populated with an enormous array of evil artifacts awakens to do its worst, forcing Diane to look for a route to escape or die trying.
That’s it. That’s the setup, and that’s all you need for an effective, creepy horror story. Where Jon Clark’s story excels, however, is in the willingness to go all out with creative monsters. Crawling witches with demonic tongues scrabble to pluck your eyes out. A demon-possessed tapestry glides through the air before pouncing on its victims like a giant bat. Clark doesn’t pull any punches, and the urgency level to get gone or be monster food is through the roof.
How’s the art? Pereira’s style is loose and not clean by any means, but the dirty, nasty figure work, combined with Clark’s aggressive coloring, makes the monsters more terrifying. The monsters are unclean, literally and figuratively, which makes you want to get away from them even more. We generally like clean art, but this is one of the few examples where dirty art is better.
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]
Check out our POP-UP #2 review to find out how Beth got stuck in a tight spot.
We begin with Diane and Shawn trying to free Beth from a cabinet that fell on top of her. Beth is physically fine but can feel and hear things moving in the dark with her. Soon, she uses the flashlight on her smartphone to see the disfigured props moving toward her every time she looks away.
Shawn hurries off to get a crowbar to break the cabinet open. When he enters a room that’s more decorated than intended, Shawn comes face-to-face with Ruthie the witch lady, an old crone with an unusual talent with a knitting needle.
Beth begins to panic when the darkness inside the cabinet begins to warp through time and space to reveal sucking, tentacled monstrosities moving toward her. Before the monster is close enough to strike, Diane breaks the cabinet open with a prop mace. Mother and daughter head off to search for Shawn, and they find him in a very uncomfortable position. We conclude the issue with painful stitchwork, a frantic escape, and bloody threads.
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 #3 is the satisfying payoff to Jon Clark’s setup of a museum with too many evil artifacts to be safe. The grimy art makes the monsters worse for all the right reasons, and Clark’s frantic pace keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
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