Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer(s): Tom Waltz
Artist(s): Tristen Jones
Release Date: 3rd September 2014

In the computer game, players were introduced to a criminal aboard an inmate passenger bus which crashed in Silent Hill. Murphy (surely a nod to Cuckoo’s Nest?) Pendleton tries to escape the town while pursued by Corrections Officer Anne. A “dark link” connects them and in this series, we find out Anne’s side of the story.

This is an unsettling and disorienting read. It’s meant to be, as the fog encircles Silent Hill, our experience reading the story is murky, shadowy with scares coming out of the mire. Anne follows Willis, another officer, into a cave / tunnel and comes across inmates, the souls of children and still has to chase down Pendleton. What’s real and what plays with her mind? We are told why Anne and Pendleton share a macabre link but we will have to wait for issue 2 to actually see Pendleton. He’s another mystery enshrouded within a comic about mystery and foggy visions.

I love the whole look and feel of the Silent Hill franchises – they are genuinely scary and unsettling. Once Mr H scared himself silly playing the game and couldn’t bear to take himself up the stairs to bed so slept on the sofa – and that’s the secret to the success of Silent Hill. Visions, fog, murderous danger and uncertainty make for genuine scares. The artwork doesn’t allow for sure-footing either as you walk around the fog of Silent Hill; dark, shadowy, ethereal watercolours, reminiscent of the work of Ben Templesmith. It’s just not fair – we don’t stand a chance.

Rating: 3/5.

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PREVIEW ARTWORK.

[Click thumbnail for full size image]

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The writer of this piece was: Hazel Hay

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