On April 29th, writer Kurtis J. Wiebe marked his return to horror comics with Pisces, a brand-new series from Image Comics with artist Johnnie Christmas and colors by Tamara Bonvillain. Although I’ve loved all of Wiebe’s work, it was Green Wake, his noir murder-mystery gothic drama with Riley Rossmo, that persuaded me that he was a writer with a natural gift for spinning scary stories, and I’d always hoped he would return to the genre.

After just one issue, it’s clear that Wiebe’s talents for building a terrifying world have grown immensely, and for readers who love surreal, nonlinear narratives, this title should be added to pull lists immediately.

You don’t need to know the plot, and even after the first issue you won’t have much of an idea of where things are going anyway, but the basics are enough — Dillon Carpenter is a man that has seen some trouble. Through beautifully drawn flashbacks, drawn with Christmas’ characteristic fluidity and emotion, Carpenter’s past traumas of war, death and survival are revealed. There's also a taste of their impact on his present day existence, with a hospital scene that lays groundwork for more loss in his life.

Bonvillain’s colors range between saturated, golden washes and deep jungle greens, pulling the eye further into each panel. Reminiscent of '70s and '80s Italian horror movies, the sequences move graphically, creating a well-paced (if uncertain) foundation for what is sure to be an amazing series. Pisces #1 is an intriguing and ambitious fresh addition to horror comics, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

 

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