If Alfred Hitchcock had created comics, this is what his book would look like!
Horrorwood is the first comic book effort from the team of Brandon Terrell who has assumed the writing duties and Brent Schoonover, claiming the artist roll. The comic is a murder mystery of sorts set in the ominous world of 1950s Hollywood. Maybe not the Hollywood of reality, but more of the Hollywood you might find in an old Vincent Price film. The cast of characters include a Magician named Manos; Sophia, a down on her luck B movie actress; Pierce, a once famous special effects wizard, and last but not least, Bruno, the stuntman and our rugged leading man. Bruno has a kind of Cary Grant quality about him. Sophia finds her life upturned when she meets Manos the Magician. Ghosts from her past are emerging and the mysterious Manos may hold some of the answers. In Sophia’s search she will retie old binds and form new ones. The story is wrought with odd characters, dark happenings and a strange carnival that would be a little creepy to visit in real life.
To say the very least I loved it. Brent and Brandon have done exactly what independent comics should do; they took the genre and expanded upon it. They pushed the envelope in a slightly different direction and laid out a plotline that is unique within this confined and sometimes claustrophobic comic realm.
Brandon Terrell has taken what we remember as 1950s Hollywood and written a twilight zone version of it. The characters have dimension and texture. I felt like the dialogue was also very well suited for the period. Writing a comic book script is a daunting task. It’s one of the closest things to writing a film script. The writer has to be concern with angles, fades, and off panel characters. Mr. Terrell has done an exceptional job. The story is cohesive and the characters are fun. You want to care about these people and Brandon has created characters that you cannot help but root for.
The style of art used by Brent Schoonover for Horrorwood is to say the very least, dead on perfect. The artwork will draw you in without question. It felt as if he had sat through a thousand old movies and sketched these scenes out along the way. If Alfred Hitchcock had been a comic book illustrator, this is what his book would look like. Brent has produced a beautiful comic here. I have read Horrowood twice now and I have flipped through it many more times trying to find the right words to describe it. The best I can come up with is this: Imagine your favorite film Noir; if you can do that then you will have an idea of Brent’s style in the pages of Horrowood.
Hero Spy is recommending this comic. So go out and purchase it post haste. I’m including a couple links to the Horrorwood site so that you can get the book for yourself. Also if you check back in a couple of days we will be running a story about the creators, Brandon and Brent. That should prove to be very interesting.
Website: Horrorwood
Buy Comic: Ape Comics
Contact: Brent and Brandon… horrorwoodcomic@gmail.com
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