Infidel is a horror film that tells about the stereotypes and prejudices that consume our society. And he does it very well, although he is far from being a masterpiece.
Groza a medium
It’s not easy to create a good horror movie. This task is even more difficult for comic book writers. As rightly noted in the afterword to InfidelJeff Lemire, a medium that effectively makes it difficult to evoke a feeling of terror in the recipient. The lack of sound and control over what the reader sees at the moment make comic horror films much more difficult to scare. For this reason, the creators have to make a real effort not to limit themselves to presenting phantasmagoric, nightmarish creatures chasing heroes and bloody scenes full of macabre. Both of these methods would usually fail in the face of similar treatments in the cinema or video games. However, authors of graphic stories can still use interesting characters, original plots and aesthetics. When it comes to the visual aspect, comic book illustrators even have an advantage. Both cinematic and interactive horror movies are usually limited to photorealism,
“Infidel” – sample comic pages
Uneven image and text levels
The cartoonist Aatron Campbell and the colorist José Villarrubia try to use the full potential of the comic book medium in Infidel . They consciously manipulate color, light and shadow and change their style depending on the scene. In places they even try to play with the form a bit, introducing collages and illustrations more painted than drawn. In most of the album, however, they stick to realistic lines and do not use much of the means typical of comics. It’s a pity.
However, Infidel defends itself in a scenario. Pornsak Pichetshote realizes that we are most frightened by stories that only seemingly involve supernatural phenomena. The history of the genre is full of works that describe the fears that accompany us every day with the help of fantastic elements. The cold war, galloping consumerism, sexually transmitted diseases, unsettled genocide of indigenous peoples, racism and social inequality – these are phenomena that have often been metaphorically reflected in horror movies. Infidelit also follows this path, using religious prejudices and xenophobia combined with fear of terrorism and the fear of losing one’s own identity. Pichetshote created varied, full-blooded characters, thanks to which he presented a whole range of attitudes and fears. At the same time, he did not forget to create an intriguing secret and gradually reveal it in such a way as to keep the reader’s interest all the time. And although he did not write a memorable work, his script is nuanced enough to be engaging and interesting reading, and at the same time not to fall into cliché.
“Infidel” – an example comic page
Exemplary edition
The Non Stop Comics team has once again shown that the standard edition can contain a lot of “premium” content. The texture of the cover, characteristic of this release, was this time enriched with a glossy varnish covering the demonic hand extended towards the protagonist. In addition to the introduction and afterword, the album includes a description of the process of creating the title illustration, a sizeable gallery of covers, and recreates the original design of the series as presented by the authors in Image Comics. Over twenty-five pages of add-ons in total.
A strange thing is, in turn, a certain inconsistency in the translation of demonic voices appearing on the frames. Sometimes they are polonized, other times – they are left in the original. This is not a major drawback, but it does raise some puzzles.
A solid horror movie
Infidel is not an outstanding horror film that would pave new paths for a horror movie or present original methods of scaring the reader. However, it is a solid implementation of the horror genre in a comic book medium, providing a thrill, and at the same time commenting on the reality that surrounds us.
