Freaktown Comics Roundup
Earlier this month I got sent an email. It had to be possibly the ballsiest review “request” I’ve ever received. It was from Freaktown Comics and began;
Hello there.Would you like some comics to review? Of course you would, you’re a website that reviews comics. If you didn’t want comics to review you would have opened a cheese emporium.
Certainly attention grabbing. What followed were links to four different comics; one about roller derby, a cryptid horror comic, a noir thriller, and a slasherfest.
Fast and Frightening – A Comic About Roller Derby.
Written by Russell Hillman, with art by Carlos Pedro (Chapter 1 and 3) and Keith Chan (Chapter 2).
Blown away by their first bout, four young women decide to take on the world. With skates on their feet, helmets on their heads, pads on their knees and fire in their hearts they assemble a mighty roller derby league. Follow their exploits on and off the track as they skate fast, turn left and hit hard. It’s red-hot girl-on-girl sports action!Freaktown Comics brings the excitement and action of roller derby to the comics page, and introduces you to the people who make it happen.
Of the four, this was definitely my favourite. Weighing in at over 100 pages it is a very detailed look at the birth of a new Roller Derby team in Coventry, UK. It’s got action aplenty and more than a few laughs. It also has quite a lot of heart, as it weaves the personal lives of some of the team in and out of the main action. Several of the ladies on the team find more than a passion for a new sport, be it new relationships or self-confidence.
The Dark of the Forest
Written by Russell Hillman, everything else by Sergio Calvet.
It all started out so innocently.Seven friends set out on a birdwatching weekend in the middle of the Navarre forest. Little did they know that while they were watching the birds, something else was watching them. Something that wasn’t human. Something very protective of the forest, and willing to kill anyone that gets in its way.Something hungry.Freaktown Comics brings you a desperate tale of survival, humans united against a mysterious and deadly predator in a bloody battle to the death.
The Dark of the Forest had promise, but I felt it fell a little short. It channels a kind of Evil Dead/Cabin in the Woods vibe, with a bunch of horny tees in the forest being attacked by a bigfoot-type monster. While those sort of horror movies have rules, one of which is “the couple that has sex is going to die”, this felt like a thinly veiled excuse for a lot of boobs and shagging. The art style was cartoony but enjoyable, but I was left hoping for more, particularly by the ending.
Deadly Burlesque.
Written by Russell Hillman with art by Daniel Bell and letters by Sergio Calvet.
The Bowery, Lower Manhattan, 1980. The New York burlesque scene has faded away, replaced by strip joints, peep shows and porno palaces. One small club of indomitable performers – the Luxury Lounge – still holds out against the tide.The art of burlesque is dying. For one person, it isn’t dying fast enough. As the bodies pile up, so do the suspects – could the killer be desperate club owner Mr Barnett? Cantankerous juggler The Amazing Ralph? Stale stand-up comic Martin Stevens?A performer can die onstage a thousand times. Offstage, once is enough.
This was another one that left me wanting more. Weighing in at just 28 pages it wrapped up far too quickly for my liking. I did enjoy the noir-esque storyline, but felt like it could have unfolded at a slower pace, building the tension more. The premise of a cat-and-mouse killer toying with multiple victims in a closed theatre has a lot of potential. Sadly that potential wasn’t used as well as it could have been.
Slashermania.
Written by Russell Hillman, with pencils by Ron Joseph and CJ Camba, inks by Jake Isenberg, Ron Joseph and CJ Camba, colours by Harry Saxon and letters by Sergio Calvet.
1983. Troubled teens from New York and Los Angeles are taken to a summer camp facility to be trained as counsellors and mix safely with other people their own age. Little do they know they are being watched by an audience hungry for sex & violence. They are the designated victims for a bizarre contest of murder and mayhem – WELCOME TO SLASHERMANIA!Masked maniacs from across the USA, Canada, Italy & the UK compete in various categories: Best Male Solo Death! Best Female Solo Death! Coitus Interruptus! Sin Punishment! Most Creative Kill! Biggest Multiple Death! The coveted Slasher of the Year award!“And the Slashie goes to…”
I wanted to like Slashermania, I really did. The idea had a lot of promise. Alas, it would have benefitted from being looked over by an editor as I found it bloated with repetition. So much so that I did not finish. My quitting point came around about page 30 (of 172) when, after 10 pages which individually profiled each of the serial killers taking part, there followed another 2 pages of the “hosts” of the show introducing each of them to the audience. This would have worked better if the story was broken down into several issues. If the full page profiles had been the back matter of #1, and then the hosts introductions could have served as a brief recap at the start of #2. Althought that’s just my opinion.
If you want to check out any of the titles from Freaktown Comics for yourself then you can. They are available via comixology or the Freaktown Comics website.
