Publisher: Image Comics
Writer(s): Michael Walsh, Dan Watters
Artist(s): Michael Walsh, Abigail Larson
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Release Date: 11th October 2023

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Michael Walsh’s wonderful “The Man With No Eyes” initially provides the reader with a genuinely relatable depiction of a lonely youngster desperate to find companionship with their favourite TV programmes when left alone for the night. Indeed, Walsh must surely have caused many a bibliophile to have had some considerable sympathy for both Dan and his “down-on-his-luck dad” as they desperately try to survive a week of gruelling night shifts before “things’ll be easier.”

As well pencilled as it penned by the Eisner Award-winner, this terrifying ten-pager soon turns even more tragic as the completely innocent child totally falls under the sinister spell of a malignant magician who, horrifyingly, has his ghoulish heart set on the friendless lad’s eyeballs, and causes the boy’s father to lose his crucial, bill-paying job through absolutely no fault of his own. Disconcertingly haunting, the tale’s conclusion is genuinely upsetting, as the minor’s remorseful parent appears about to make amends for smashing up their sole telly in a drunken temper only to face a grotesquely disfigured Dan desperate for revenge and armed with a jagged piece of their smashed set’s glass screen.

Slightly less hard-hitting, though perfectly entertaining in its own right, is “Keep It Down” by Dan Watters, which rather intriguingly taps into the life of a woman who can communicate with the dead. This supernatural ability is ofttimes presented as being something of a boon to those who possess it, and initially the London-born writer follows just such a path with the young woman responsibly listening to all the spirits’ different plights. However, once the sheer number of unwanted souls starts to impact upon poor Amy’s day-to-day life the desperate medium decides to take a very drastic step to ensure she obtains a good night’s sleep.

Interestingly however, it soon turns out that the lady’s keen hearing has actually been keeping her safe from a much darker demonic monstrosity than artist Abigail Larson’s well-sketched spectre who persistently enquires about what Tik Tok is all about. This deadly threat neatly ties in with the yarn’s opening too, so rather impressively helps bookend the petrifying piece too; “In the end, her pleas for quiet really fell on deaf ears.”

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[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]

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The writer of this piece was: Simon Moore
Simon Tweets from @Blaxkleric ‏
You can read more of his reviews at The Brown Bag

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