SIX:EIGHT CH. 1 – The Honest Review

SIX:EIGHT CH. 1, available now on Kickstarter, is a supernatural thriller. A mugging and home invasion go horribly wrong for the criminals when a dark force takes bloody revenge.

The Details

• Written By: Michael T. Gonzalez
• Art By: Allen Byrns
• Letters By: Allen Byrns
• Cover Art By: Allen Byrns
• Cover Price: $5 (base pledge for digital pdf on Kickstarter)
• Campaign Start Date: April 11, 2021

Was It Good?

Whoa! We did not see this coming.

Indie comics are like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get. This book was surprising for just how creepy, atmospheric, and fear-inducing it turned out. The writing is very minimal without leaving too much unsaid, so there’s a strong reliance on letting the art tell the story, and it works well.

The art elevates this story beyond it’s already creepy premise with a sketchy, rotoscope texture and the most deft use of blurring to provide emphasis and focus we’ve ever seen. Some artists will cheat by lowering the art quality around the focal point of a panel to draw the reader’s eye, and that technique usually winds up looking rushed or unfinished. Here, Byrns does it right by keeping the drawing consistent and filtering around the focus to make the elements pop even more.

This is a great start to a horror story with surprisingly well done art and writing that hits the sweet spot for eliciting an emotional reaction.

To be fair, it’s not perfect. The designs on the criminals aren’t distinctive enough to tell who is who, which made for a little confusion as to who was doing what in some of the panels, so they could be rendered a little better.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Since this is an active campaign and the review copy we received may not be the final version, we’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum

We begin with the police arriving at a crime scene in a lonely apartment. The mother has a head injury but she’ll be okay. The daughter, Matilda, is physically fine. The bathroom is covered in blood from floor to ceiling, without a trace of a body.

The main suspect, sitting on the floor in handcuffs, is steadily spiraling into hysterics at something he sees in a corner behind a recliner chair. Whatever is driving him to to insanity can’t be seen by anyone else.

At only pages seven pages into the story, the narrative and the art grips you. Something horrible has happened, and it still may be happening, but you can’t see it. Readers can’t helped but be on edge in anticipation of something jumping out at you from the corner.

Cut to a flashback with Anthony, the father/husband of this story. He’s on his way home from work when he’s jumped by two toughs looking for cash. It doesn’t end well for Anthony. But through the interaction, you’re led to believe Anthony is no pushover, and he has a dangerous quality about him that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Continuing the flashback, we here the mother, Maggie, talking with her lover, making plans. She warns leaving won’t be easy because Anthony is not somebody to be messed with. He won’t take the situation lying down.

The two toughs enter the apartment with Anthony’s keys. What begins is a fight for survival by Maggie and her daughter. When all hope is lost for Maggie, the tables are turned in a gruesome way.

How Does It End?

There really is something in the corner. Matilda knows he’ll never be found. Criminal #2 is not a monster but he’s about to meet one.

Final Thoughts

SIX:EIGHT CH. 1, available now on Kickstarter, is the kind of indie comic horror fans crave for. Brutal, creepy, atmospheric, and with just enough open questions to want more without feeling like the first chapter didn’t do its job.

Score: 9/10