Wednesday Comics Reviews: IT HAPPENED ON HYDE STREET
This week’s main review is It Happened On Hyde Street – Devour #1, a gruesome and scary one-shot story. Plus, the Wednesday Comics Team has its usual rundown of the new #1s, finales and other notable issues from non-Big 2 publishers, all of which you can find below … enjoy!
It Happened on Hyde Street – Devour
Writer: Maytal Zchut
Art: Leila Leiz
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: Rob Leigh
Publisher: Image / Ghost Machine
Review by Clyde Hall
In the bushel basket of supernatural and horror comics anthologies this harvest season, Hyde Street #1 was one of my favorites. In a Twilight Zone-ish, side realm to our reality is Hyde Street. It’s a place where people find redemption or condemnation, the outcomes balanced by overseeing entities who compete for the greatest number of final destination decisions they can compel. These beings include Mr. X-Ray, Pranky the World’s Most Dangerous Scout, and Miss Goodbody, each one representing wayward or purely evil paths we of the human race encounter through the journey of life.
Combining backstories on the entities in competition with one another and the tales of the souls being judged, the initial issue was a fresh take on what such anthologies could be. Having a follow up one-shot like It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour promised more of the same, feeling like a bonus helping just for Halloween. What might have been a Snickers Fun Size treat was more like a roll of Smarties. Traditional, tangy, but lacking the sugar high fun of the first issue.
The story spans three generations beginning in 1983 with a young mother, Bernice. She has a bright and bubbly daughter, Patricia, but she’s also focused on what she sees as weight issues. Since having her child, and perhaps owing also to the stress of running a single parent household, Bernice has extra pounds she desperately wants to lose. She even wrestles with deep-seated fears Patricia may follow her example and develop a binge-eating disorder herself. Enter Miss Goodbody at the newly opened Fat Free shop on Hyde Street.
She has in stock a product called Devour. Improved formula! Fast acting! And one pill does it all.
Jumping to the modern day, Bernice is helping granddaughter Lily prepare for her wedding. Patricia’s a proud mother encouraging Lily to shed enough pounds to fit into her wedding dress. It’s apparent that both matriarchs have successfully remained svelte thanks to Devour and that weight control is very much central to their thinking in different ways. Patricia wants Lily to rely on willpower and better nutritional habits while Bernice smugly insists that Devour’s the only real solution. After all, it worked for both her and for Patricia, as well as Lily’s great-aunt Sheri. Caught between these conflicting approaches, Lily sets about deciding a course that’s right for her.
Writer Maytal Zchut worked on one of my favorite CW superhero shows, Stargirl. Her upbeat approach to the hero and her Justice Society legacy resonated beautifully for that character. And here she applies those character building strengths with Bernice, Patricia, and Lily. Bernice is the Devour true believer, feeling smugly superior to her former self and anyone who doesn’t convert. Patricia is still hoping for better regarding her own daughter. And Lily is being pulled savagely in both directions.
Through the trio, Zchut works through the psychology and emotional impact body image can impose on people. This includes blame on weak willpower, genetic dispositions, and societal pressure to be thin at all costs. In this, it’s good writing and it centers on a problem that needs exploration at a time when Ozempic profits are off the charts.
But the often repeated cautionary wisdom centered in this horror tale, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!” isn’t new. The flimflammery at work is also one that’s been part of miracle diet supplements in real life for centuries. That kept the story’s horrific reveal from being much of a surprise.
All the Hyde Street titles so far have been beautifully rendered, graced with a weird attractiveness that can turn visually vicious on a dime. It’s the best look for these kinds of stories, and artist Leila Leiz continues in the same stylistic strata. Seeing the beauty in all three of the main characters is vital for this tale. They are unaware of it themselves, but Leiz makes it heartbreakingly apparent in their renders. The same holds true for the corruption they endure in pursuit of ‘perfection’, where she channels an aesthetic echoing cosmetic surgery taken to extremes.
The theme and cautionary messages of It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour are timely and important. Coming from a family which has had and continues having body image issues, I can relate and applaud the efforts. The horror elements are predictable, the snake oil salesmanship angle is similar to Hyde Street #1, and the expansion of the entities that I hoped for (Unlike Mr. X-Ray in the first issue, we don’t get a Miss Goodbody backstory yet.) aren’t present. Balanced against a $5.99 cover price, readers will have to decide if it’s worth an extra trip down Hyde Street for Halloween.
The Hexiles #1
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Joe Bocardo
Colorist: Manoli Martinez
Letterer: El Torres
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Review by Jordan Jennings
After the death of the father that they never knew, six strangers meet for the first time at the funeral. The half-siblings quickly learn that they all share something in common, and we are not talking about their genetic code. Each one has been given some sort of hellish superpower. Unfortunately, the superpowers come at a cost and a group of devils are looking to collect. The reluctant siblings must figure out what is going on with them all while paying for the sins of their father.
Cullen Bunn’s writing focuses on establishing the setting and characters’ situation while not getting bogged down in exposition. First issues are a tricky one especially for a completely new project like this and the temptation is there for the writer to dump a ton of exposition. Of course, this isn’t Bunn’s first rodeo on this kind of project, and he is a master at providing just information for the reader to keep them engaged while not overwhelming them in the rules of the world.
The central concept of the story—a mysterious father gifts his children superpowers and together they must save the day—isn’t a new one. Dynamo 5 from Image comics played in familiar territory for instance, but instead of the children becoming some super team, The Hexiles features a dark twist on the story with each of the children’s gift being at debt to a different devil. Bunn’s concepts here are worthwhile and I am curious to see how the story will pan out over the six-issue run.
Joe Bocardo’s art here is the main draw. It is a stylistic book with various scratchy lines and visually distinct character designs. The look of the demons and powersets of the Hexiles is rather strong with each of the children receiving a visually distinct and unique power that looks well on the page. Bocardo makes use of different page layouts to create a sense of action and pacing to a story that is largely centered around a funeral for a character no one really has met. It is far from a talking heads issue and instead something dynamic and chaotic.
There are times when it is hard to decipher what is happening on panel, though. This appears to be done by a combination of sketchy line work and unclear coloring. Don’t be mistaken, Manoli Martinez does a wonderful job coloring this issue, but there are times when the intersection of Bocardo’s heavy line work clashes with Martinez’s flat tone coloring style. Hexiles is a visually interesting book and they take some swings, which I appreciate, but there are times when I wish it was a bit more clear what was exactly happening.
The Hexiles #1 is a solid start to the series and a great seasonal read to get your Halloween Spirit going. The concept is novel, and the book is visually unique. While there are times when I felt the art wasn’t doing itself any favors, it is still ambitious. This is a book for fans of Bunn’s other work or Spawn comics. It is a solid and entertaining time.
Wednesday Comics Reviews
- Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion #1 (Oni Press): Cards on the table, I suspected this was a tie-in to an older animated series that I was unfamiliar with, and I was vindicated. I’ve never seen it, but this first issue written by Dennis Culver does a very good job of informing readers of everything they need to know; from the characters, their relationships to the world itself, the politics and truces on the brink of breaking down. They even go so far as to provide a glossary making it that much easier to jump into if you’re uninitiated, and that just feels like even more of an invitation to pick this book up. It’s accessible and makes a point of that. Its colorful art captures the charm of those ’80s animated shows, which is a credit to artist Ramon Bachs and colorist Manoli Martinez with letters by Ghost Glyph Studios’ Taylor Esposito. It reads quick and the action is compelling, from a four armed stand-off against a small army to a hasty bug riding escape. Sectaurs is fun and easy to follow (bloodier than I would have anticipated). The main character is likable and charming thanks to the synergy of the creative team, and it all comes together to create a great first issue full of action, fun characters in writing and design, making for a compelling start to this adventure. —Khalid Johnson
The Prog Report
- 2000AD 2406 (Rebellion Publishing): This week brings us another 48-page bumper issue, which means there are some standalone stories and some jumping on points. There’s a lot to like here, but I think the standout for me was the Robo-Hunter vs. Strontium Dog story by Garth Ennis, Henry Flint, and Rob Steen. It’s a story with two classic 2000AD characters, but you don’t really need to know either of them that well to enjoy it. Ennis is unsurprisingly funny with the scripting right from the start (Robo-Hunter’s talking cigar is a highlight), and Flint is as gifted and interesting of a sci-fi artist as there is in comics these days. They work well together, and the result is a small but very amusing little one-off. I should note here that this issue also has the conclusion of Brink by Dan Abnett, Inj Culbard, and Simon Bowland. This most recent arc has been 28 parts. I have to admit it got away from me a bit, but I enjoyed the start of it and now that it’s concluded, I am planning to go back and play catch-up with this one. One last note — look at that John McCrea cover! It’s so good. Anyway…as always, you can nab a digital copy of this week’s Prog here. —Zack Quaintance
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