Basketful of Heads

Joe Hill is the only author whose collective body of work terrifies me. Hill's magnum opus, NOS4A2 gave me such chills, that I had to stop reading it for several months before I got the courage to finish it. Several chapters of his Dark Horse series Locke & Key gave me sleepless nights. And his 2016 work The Fireman, while the least scary of his works that I have read, still had moments of horror that I just can't shake off. 

And yet, I can't stop reading his stuff!

Basketful of Heads was Hill's first miniseries published under DC's Hill House imprint. With the collapse of Vertigo, DC Comics partnered with the author to develop a line of horror comics based on his previously published short stories and new works. Other authors were supposed to be involved in this project. Shortly, DC announced the creation of the DC Horror and Black Label imprints and those other stories were released under that line. 

This 2019 miniseries is set during the end of the Summer of 1983. June Branch has arrived on Brody Island, off the coast of Maine, to pick up her boyfriend, Liam. Liam has been working during his college break as a junior law enforcement officer to help with the influx of Summer tourists. Coming off his last shift, Liam and June encounter a chaotic scene. A quartet of prisoners on work release have escaped from Shawkshank Prison!

These men are considered armed and dangerous. So Liam decides to stay with Chief Clausen's family to protect them while the police force conducts their manhunt. With a tropical storm approaching the island and the tragic news of a fallen cop, June and Liam soon find themselves at the Chief's house alone.

The storm causes the power to go out at the Clausen compound. While June looks for flashlights, the prisoners invade the home and take Liam hostage. In the melee, June looks for something to defend herself and grabs what she believes to be an ordinary antique axe from Chief Clausen's den. Only when she lops off the head of one of the prisoners who stayed behind, she discovers that the weapon has magical powers, allowing the decapitated criminal's head to remain alive. 

June learns from the head that Liam has some sort of unknown item in his possession. Probably money or jewels, which could greatly help with their escape. June knows nothing of this. But if she wants to see her boyfriend alive ever again, June has got to get searching, taking the talking head, and placing it in a picnic basket with her, in hopes of uncovering clues.

As she encounters the other prisoners, June's basket grows heavy with more heads. But is she any closer to saving Liam? And what is so special about this axe that it keeps the dead from dying?

Basketful of Heads was a brilliant dark comedy. It gives homage to JAWS being set on Brody Island. And it ties into the Stephen King universe with the inclusion of criminals from Shawshank. I was expecting this to be a book about a serial killer with a Little Red Riding Hood fetish. Instead, I got a thrilling mystery that was as funny as it was creepy. 

Chilean artist Gabriel Rodriguez is the quintessential partner when Joe Hill makes comics. But I must say that when you cannot get Gabe Rodriguez, the appropriate substitute can be Leomacs! He's got this quality that makes the living seem so vibrant and the dead look like rotting flesh. Creepy good! And the regular covers, crafted so deftly by Reika Murakami. (Can you find the eyeball hiding in this cover?) Once again- Creepy good!

In 2022, Joe Hill crafted a sequel. Refrigerator Full of Heads promises to continue the mystery of the magical axe. If it's half as good as this book, I really, REALLY want to read it. 

As for Hill House? Does it still exist? I can't find any info as to if Joe Hill has more horror comic books on the horizon. The storyline of Locke & Key has been continued and a couple of prequels set during major wars in American history are forecasted to be in the works. But I really want to know if the latest victim at the hands of horror writer Joe Hill is his Hill House imprint!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Plunge

I am a huge fan of Joe Hill. I love his comics books and his prose works. But, man, does his stuff creep me out. Joe's father, Stephen King, can cause my wife fitful nights without sleep. It's Joe Hill who keeps me awake at night. 

Plunge is a 6-issue miniseries from the author's Hill House Comics imprint at DC Comics. I was immediately taken by the ocean setting in the Arctic Circle when this book was first announced. I could have requested this book new as floppies with my favorite LCS. But having just finished Hill's latest volume of Locke & Key and the extremely unsettling NOS4A2, I needed a break from Joe Hill's work to build up my nerve again. And then 3 years passed. 

The story sets with a massive tidal wave that has the sent aquatic animals into a fervor. The underwater eruption has caused a missing ship from 1983 to resurface in the Arctic Circle, in waters between Alaska and Russia. And the ghost ship has begun emitting a distress code!

The company that owns the ship, Rococo International, is desperate to recover what remains. The official word from the corporation is that the owner's son was on the ship and wishes to recover his body, along with the rest of the crew. But if there's other items of value to be retrieved on the ship, so be it! With Russia within its rights to claim ownership of the wreckage, time is of the essence to begin the salvage operation. 

Enter the Carpenter Brothers. Their salvage crew doesn't give a crap about the Russians.Taking the job, the crew is joined by Dr. Moriah Lamb, an oceanographer with expertise in the atolls of the Aleutian Islands. Together, the brothers, Dr. Lamb and Rococo VP David Lacome seek to find out why this ship sunk and subsequently returned 30 years later. What they uncover is a crew, not quite dead, but definitely not alive; with the promise of answers to many of earth's greatest mysteries. But these rewards come with a deadly price. 

Stuart Immonen (Superman: Secret Identity) was the penciller of this work. But if you told me that it was Joe Hill's artistic partner on Locke & Key, Gabriel Rodriguez, I would have bet money... and lost! Immonen's artwork was just as creepy as Hill's writings. But I think if DC's publishing and marketing team hadn't spoiled some of the mystery behind this book, it would have been much more terrifying. 

For one thing, the back cover spoils just who really is behind the resurrection of the mystery ship's crew. The image on the back is from the cover of issue #4. At that point in the story, the culprits had already been identified and thus nothing was really ruined in terms of the plot. But if this was your first real encounter with Plunge and you want to read a synopsis of what this graphic novel is all about, prepare to have a major chunk of this story ruined for you!

As much as I loved the artwork, I was disappointed at its unevenness. I've read a number of comics in which the artist stylizes the characters to look like celebrities. Generally when this is done, most of the characters have human counterparts. In Plunge, only the character of David Lacome looks like a famous person. In both representation and in tone, Lacome is portrayed by Amazing Spider-Man 2's Paul Giamatti. So if this book becomes a movie or TV series, I expect whomever produces a live-action Plunge to cast the acclaimed actor. But can someone tell me why only Lacome's character resembles a celeb?

I wish I could dive deeper into this book. But to do so could ruin so many more elements that this book's cover has already taken away from the reader. This book gave me chills. Look at the character of Lacome to be the one who brings the biggest jump scare. I may have said too much. But it's definitely a scene that will stick with me for quite some time.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.