The Shed on the Strike – Gideon Falls comic book review, volume 1: Black Barn

Lemire, a screenwriter and often cartoonist in one, is everywhere. In recent years, he has created for all the leading publishing houses – from mainstream superhero (DC, Marvel), through alternative knitwear (Valiant and the author’s Black Hammer series for Dark Horse), to the huge amount of original projects for other publishing houses (to mention only the Descendantfrom Image stable). In the 1970s, Philip K. Dick sent a letter to the FBI denouncing Stanisław Lem, who allegedly was a network of communist agents. It was impossible to write with so many different styles. I have similar suspicions towards Lemire (the name itself is: Lemire – Lem, coincidence?) – because how would it be possible to create so many works at such a high level by only one artist? Gideon Falls will not dispel my suspicions as this is another hit of the Canadian artist.

Splinters

The first volume is mainly an exhibition, efficiently balancing between building a mystery and the clarity of the message. The main plot is carried out in two ways. On the one hand, a large metropolis and Norton residing in it – a man suffering from a deep childhood trauma. He does not remember his past, he has been treated for many years for various neuroses and neuroses. He collects nails and pieces of wood for an undefined but for some reason essential purpose. He tries to work through his problems with the therapist Dr. Xu, who intends to send him to a psychiatric hospital. By the time. Eventually, she too begins to understand what the “trash” so carefully collected by Norton is going to be used for. She notices what her patient has seen for years: a satanic shed. The urban theme is intertwined with the history of the American provinces, where the priest (oops) alcoholic (phew) Wilfred is transferred from parish to parish. A stranger in a new place, yet connected from the start with the murder and investigation by the local police and Sheriff Miller, and a secret society led by Dr. Sutton. Both groups of heroes are related to a greater or lesser extent with the mysterious black barn. An inconspicuous building that appears in dreams and waking for hundreds of years, and which brings more and more misfortunes. There seems to be a great evil inside the shed. And the last frame of the comic, in easy-to-miss detail, suggests that the city of Gideon Falls itself also has a dark secret. and yet linked from the outset to the murder and investigation by the local police and Sheriff Miller, and the secret society led by Dr. Sutton. Both groups of heroes are related to a greater or lesser extent with the mysterious black barn. An inconspicuous building that appears in dreams and waking hours for hundreds of years, and which brings with it more and more misfortunes. There seems to be a great evil inside the shed. And the last frame of the comic, in easy-to-miss detail, suggests that the city of Gideon Falls itself also has a dark secret. yet linked from the outset with the murder and investigation by the local police and Sheriff Miller, and the secret society led by Dr. Sutton. Both groups of heroes are related to a greater or lesser extent with the mysterious black barn. An inconspicuous building that appears in dreams and waking hours for hundreds of years, and which brings with it more and more misfortunes. There seems to be a great evil inside the shed. And the last frame of the comic, in easy-to-miss detail, suggests that the city of Gideon Falls itself also has a dark secret. and which brings with it more and more misfortunes. There seems to be a great evil inside the shed. And the last frame of the comic, in easy-to-miss detail, suggests that the city of Gideon Falls itself also has a dark secret. and which brings with it more and more misfortunes. A great evil seems to be sleeping inside the shed. And the last frame of the comic, in easy-to-miss detail, suggests that the city of Gideon Falls itself also has a dark secret.

Not so bad a barn

While horror is one of my favorite genres, no comic book has yet managed to scare me. It is extremely difficult to convey the terror in static frames. Unfortunately, Gideon Falls did not change that. However, this is not Lemir’s fault, but a limitation accompanying this medium. Nevertheless, the writer managed to create an atmosphere of anxiety, which is equally important for this type of story. And for this purpose, the creator did not choose the motifs typical of scarecrows. There are ritual murders, there is also a possessed psychopath and a mysterious demonic figure with a monstrous smile. Finally, in the second part of the comic, there are psychedelic scenes in which reality is completely disturbed.

Humming frame

The aforementioned climate of madness, which we feel in the second half of the story, is also due to the phenomenal work of the Italian cartoonist Andrea Sorrentin. The script allowed the artist to play freely with frames and composition. In this way, there is a place in the comic for abstract graphics that take up the entire page, as well as for those resembling children’s sketches, and finally for dozens of small frames showing the action in slow motion . Although the previous fragments, set in reality, confirm the artist’s high artistry. Despite the relative realism of the drawn characters, Sorrentino used a very interesting trick. The characters are presented in a realistic way, but at the same time there is no boredom, which I accused of Cassaday who used similar treatments (I am the legion ). This has been achieved through an unusual stylistic procedure, thanks to which all the drawings are to some extent “agitated” as when watching TV interference. All of this is provided with scanty, gloomy colors, contrasted in places with deep red. It is also worth mentioning a great idea for notebook covers, presenting portraits of the heroes of history in a form resembling photos from a satellite map. All these elements make up a well-thought-out and characteristic whole.

Summary

Lemire’s works are flooding the Polish comic book market. And it’s hard for publishers to blame it. Gideon Falls is another example that the Canadian creator has a talent for telling stories. Even if the history of the black barn is not able to scare the reader, it is still worth reading for the climate of anxiety and madness.