3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We waited over thirty years for this, July 23, 2009
This review is from: The Complete Saga of the Victims (Paperback)
I can't believe I'm the first to review this graphic horror novel. Well, here goes nothing. This is being marketed a horror's first serialized graphic horror novel, however I'm not familiar enough with the fifties era of horror comics to know whether or not that statement is true. Still, while there was much in the way of horror being published in the early seventies, such as Man/Swamp Thing, some stuff over at Warren, etc., only Skywald/Horror-Mood Publications seemed to be trying to do stuff with both a beginning and an ending in America.
On the other hand, Horror-Mood was pretty much on the bottom of the publishing ladder, with only the Irving Fass magazines being any lower, so much of what they did pretty much went unnoticed. Still, they managed a few things of quality, one of them being the "The Victims" serial. Running in the "Scream" black and white magazine, this serial chronicled the adventures of a pair of close friends and rich party girls. There was the African Josey and the American Anne, and right off the start the series started breaking the rules. This started off with the character of Josey, a real African young woman, and unlike other black characters in the mainstream comics of the time, Josey was a rich, smart, privileged black woman; she never spouted off in dated pseudo jive; was muscle bound and/or two-fisted, had a white boyfriend, and was the level-headed leader of the two girls. It also became quickly obvious that this wasn't going to be going in the "The Defiant Ones" direction.
The story itself starts with a bang as both Josey and Anne are ambushed and kidnapped by a trio of morlocks and dragged down into the bowels of Manhattan after coming home from another party. And it's here that Hell starts for them.
If you can imagine an old-time Saturday morning movie serial by Lucio Fulci, as written by William Lee, then you'd be close to imagining what this series was about. From one chapter to another they encounter a skinless man, a robot vampire, a Nazi dwarf, zombie pirates, huge killer octopi, etc. At times it equaled the over-the-top excesses of the underground comics and movies of the time.
The series was hysterically overwrought, over-the-top, and outrageous, and yet it worked. In the end it worked though because of three things. The first were the characters of Josey and Anne, who looked like they were copied from the likenesses of pop movie stars Teresa Graves & Britt Ekland respectively, and despite being privileged cuties, once the kidnapping happens there's no whining about broken fingernails or mussed hair, they buckle down and work to survive. They got out of each jam not through two-fisted muscle, but by watching each other's backs and just plain OUTTHINKING their tormentors. The second was the writing; Hewetson pillages "B" movie clichés ruthlessly, but does so with a straight face, giving each chapter in the series a tight sense of suspense. The third was the art. The artwork here was, and still is, just plain gorgeous. And this book looks like the artwork was re-shot from Suso's original artwork.
Jesus Manuel (Suso) Rego was one of the premier comic illustrators of the time, matched only by glossy Nestor Redondo or Alfredo Alcala's linework, and at times here he is just plain awesome.
Unfortunately, "Scream," along with all the other Horror-Mood Publications got sucked in a black hole before we saw the end chapter of "The Victims" and we've had to wait THIRTY YEARS to see how this cult series ended, and was the wait worth it?
No. If Alan Hewetson could screw a story up, he would. Every time. The restored ending reeks of Alan Hewetson's attempts at over-cleverness. The ending is a crushing, cynical disappointment that cheats the reader; with even Suso's artwork looking uninspired. Still, this was a groundbreaking, and essential series in graphic horror telling, and except for the ending, is at times an awesome exercise in over-the-top storytelling, and is just a fantastic showcase for Suso's artwork; an artist now forgotten here in America, and criminally undervalued during the seventies. The book has a new wrap-around cover, and a new comic preface that explains what happened after "Scream"'s cancellation. Thankfully, this book was published just before Hewetson's untimely passing, so he got to see his masterpiece restored to the public. Even with the ending though, this book earns a five star rating, and did I say that it is essential for horror comic fans? Well, it is. Awesome stuff.
Now, where is that reprint of the Gargoyles serial?
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