Customer Reviews

Silent Hill: Dying Inside

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, based on the five issue miniseries starts off promising, with great Templesmith (30 days of Night) art and an intelligent story about a therapist and a disturbed patient who travel to the town of Silent Hill.

However, at chapter three, the story and Templesmith are both abruptly discarded. New artist Salman takes over. He has an interesting artistic style, but the difference in the artistic style is jarring. It is also hard to follow the story from the artwork. Moreover the direction the new story takes, about a biker chick who practices witchcraft, doesn't make sense with what came before it.

Why didn't this book stay with the same artist and the same story?

If you're a fan of the Silent Hill franchise as I am, you're probably looking for something that expands on the mythos surrounding this little New England creepshow.

What you get in Dying Inside is Scott Ciencin's first attempt to tell a SH story as guided by horror comic legend Ben Templesmith. Fans of Ben's artwork will see the evolution of his linework between his previous "Cal McDonald" pieces and most recently, "Fell." Until book three that is.

For some reason, IDW dropped Ben in favor of comic artist Aadi Salaman starting with book three. Strangely, the whole story shifts at that point as well, making books 3 - 5 a sequel to Dying Inside, but not a part of the original tale as the story arch title would make it appear.

While Aadi's artwork does fit the mood, and isn't a total 180 from Ben, it does show a lack of visual flow from panel to panel, often leaving the reader to fill in the blanks where Scott's story was probably light on detail. In the end, it's like listening to a hyperactive four year old tell you about his trip to the mall... but with pictures.

If you can get around all of the bad points, Dying Inside does want to share some interesting twists with the mythos. You have to really work at it though.

I was very excited when I picked this TPB up since I couldn't think of a better publisher to attempt a comic series attached to the popular Konami survival horror game, Silent Hill. The fact that Ben Templesmith (probably best know for his work on the hilarious Cal McDonald mystery series with writer Steve Niles) was the assigned artist only increased my expectations. IDW managed to surprise me by completely missing the mark.
Dying Inside opens with the introduction of a disillusioned doctor named Troy Abernathy, a man who has become disgusted by his own fame and popular self help books. A friend of his asks him to try his hand at helping a mentally disturbed patient named Lynn DeAngelis, since they can't seem to pinpoint the source of her fears. Lynn apparently used to be a young journalist, who suffered some kind of attack while filming in a town called Silent Hill. Troy becomes emotionally invested in his patient, as he thinks he understands the reasons why this girl is tormented by her past. he makes the mistake of taking her back to Silent Hill to confront her inner demons, but naturally, they end up having to deal with real blood-craving monstrosities caused by a small child named Christabella. The reader later finds out that Troy's past is full of nasty little secrets, thanks to a manifestation of his dead wife and best friend (whom we later find out Troy killed with a shovel). In an incredibly dramatic fashion, he sacrifices his own life, so Lynn can escape. She apparently DOES and is picked up by some elderly couple on the side of the road. We never find out what happens to her later, as the story takes a different twist completely. Lynn's digital camera is intercepted at the hospital and her video is watched by a bunch of Goths, who decide they could make some money by visiting the town themselves. Around issue 3, Templesmith is ditched for Aaadi Salaman, which effectively destroys the mood Templesmith effectively created with his style. Lauryn, the punk leader of the Goth teenage group, apparently has ties to Silent Hill and Christabella is later revealed to be her deceased younger sister. Her friends are slaughtered and Lauryn finds out she has some vast demonic power over the town, and somehow uses it to defeat her sister and turn her friends into zombies. All of the Silent Hill fans are now scratching their heads and saying "What just happened?"

The story is very disjointed and full of plot holes. Honestly, the comic reads like Scott Ciencin just gave up on the story after the second issue, then had the rest filled in by a Mary Sue fanfic. The story really has no ties to the original game and fails to do it justice. I probably should have stuck to buying the first two issues of Dying Inside, since the story and art didn't offend me as much as the sudden transition to super powered punker-witch Lauryn.

I'd probably suggest picking up the first two issues to fans as well, but don't expect much originality when it comes to settings and monster designs. The creatures are taken straight from the games and the backgrounds are practically nonexistent. Aside from some of the blood graffiti in the street scenes, the rest of the comic fails to deliver any spooky surroundings. Salaman seems to have confused blurry, dark smears for tension and mood creating backdrops.

I can't really say much for this book. It rehashed and reused monsters from previous games; having a head doctor in the story should have created far more interesting monsters. It seemed like the story started out with nothing more then an idea, and the writed decided to just see where the story led him. Stories should always be on a leash, guided and molded into what they are. otherwise you get this story. The only person EVER to have gotten away with letting the story walk itself is the creator of Bob and George of www.bobadgeorge.com .

The art (both styles) are unaatractive, yet somehow fit. I liked the idea of having the riddles on the wall, and I felt like taking notes. But I didn't; the story was more like what a non-Silent Hill player viewed Silent Hill as.

Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

I can tell that these authors are hot hardcore fans of the great Silent Hill videogames by Konami because if they were, they wouldn't publish something that's more of an insult than interesting. It has very little potential and the pictures and art may be liked by graphic novel fans, but I certainly despised it. If you're not a Silent Hill gamer, you may like this but I am one, and I felt it insulted and really made Silent Hill look bad.

The other reviews to this comic was right. It wasn't a very good comic.

Okay when you think of Silent Hill, you think scary monsters, demons and messed up people. Well, in dying inside, you don't get any experience from the game, except maybe in the first few chapters (just 1 and 2). Dying Inside starts off with a man trying to find a cure for a girl with psychosis. He brings her to Silent Hill and all this bad [...] happens. The first two chapters follow the basic Silent Hill 2 aspect and implement it well, but the downside is the art-it isn't that great.

When we begin chapter 3, we are introduced to Lauryn who wants to go to Silent Hill because of a tape of the story mentioned above and runs into her dead sister. The art work becomes better, but the storyline is worse. Heck, you only get a few monsters only one of which is actually from the game. You always are missing something in this book. If you must read this comic, which I would advise against, go buy the Silent Hill Experience for PSP if you have one. It comes with this whole comic as well as some other videos and you save money.

The only thing scary about this comic is that it doesn't live up to the series at all. Fans, you have been warned. Stay far away from this embarassment if you can.

The twists were okay. There were some decent ideas wrapped in here.

The writing style of the dialogue can be a bit iffy in certain spots, but what comics don't have this problem? The speedy pace is what I have more problem with. This author jumps from point to point a little too quickly for my taste. It's very hyperactive and doesn't flesh out very many details. Usually, in comic books, this is completely fine, because the artwork gives most of the detail... But this brings me to my next point: The art is mostly very stylish, however, it can be difficult to tell what's happening at many points because it's so blurred and scribbled. (This problem is mostly in the last few issues, since a new artist was brought on board.) The choppy writing and stylishly incomprehensible art combine for an aesthetically pleasing, but conceptually confusing read.

The mood and attitude stray a little from what Silent Hill works usually bring. This is the type of thing that would be better if it wasn't labeled as a Silent Hill piece. As it is, it works fairly well though. It adds new elements and tries new things. It works well enough in this comic, but I definitely wouldn't use the plot for another game or movie... It just doesn't fit well enough.

Give it a read if you're curious, but don't expect a story that's much like anything we've seen in the games or movie.

the only thing that makes this comic book good is ben templesmith's part. his art and his story are amazing. once the third chapter finishes and another artist takes over this comic book turns for the worst. his style isn't bad but it's not as good as ben's work. he twists the story so much that the entire thing turns into a convoluted mess. get this if you're a fan of silent hill or ben templesmith.

the story doesn't fit into the silent hill universe at all, but i'm sure silent hill fans will appreciate the effort.

As a fan of the Silent Hill series and its twisted mythos, I was hoping that the comics would expand on that. That the one shot stories with original characters would be worth picking up. While Dying Inside is not as bad as the others, it wasn't that great either.

The artwork may have worked if you could actually see what was going on. There were times when the scene was so muddled that I couldn't tell the difference from one of the living human characters or a piece of rancid flesh.

The story isn't that strong either. I've seen fanfiction writers do better jobs with the Silent Hill story and create a greater sense of dread in me.

Dying Inside does not capture the essence of Silent Hill. That's just my opinion though. I leave it up to others to make their own.