4 out of 5

…It seemed to take the mini-world of comics and media by a mini-storm, websites toutin’ its praises and the series rather quickly nabbed for a TV adaptation.  Is the attention earned?

If anything, Harrow County, at least in this initial outing, shows how well Bunn has learned to apply restraint in his writing, something that, well, he still fails at at times (Helheim), but something that also took years of Sixth Gun to get right.  And even when a series is imperfect, that restraint amplifies its atmosphere immensely.  County is the tale of Emmy discovering that she’s a witch.  It’s full of a lovely and creepy country sensibility – which, based on the backmatter, it sounds like Bunn comes by honestly – and illustrated for us with a lush warmth doused in ample shadows by Tyler Crook, far surpassing anything he’s delivered previously and on par with Owen Gieni’s this-book-wouldn’t-work-without-ya contributions to Manifest Destiny.  (Cute that Gieni shows up in the “Tales from Harrow County” blurbs.)

What’s equally amazing about this restraint is how much story Cullen gets in there, about skinless boys and haints and Harrow’s history, without having to spell most of it out.  There’s one scene that might come across as an exposition dump, but it’s brief, and used equally to tell us more about Emmy’s character evolution – this is how stories should be told, with plot points rolled out in time with character development, and if the two can be wrapped together in one scene or sentence, all the better.

I only dock a star because things are almost too compressed, while at the same time in a hurry to world-build.  A bit of Harrow history feels a little fudged, but not in a way that will get explained more later; the ‘Tales’ mentioned are cute by oversell the supernatural angle too early, making it into something worth a smirk when it should be spooky.  Bunn’s ghost tales from his past as editorials are pretty cool, I’m just worried that the invitation for others to share will result in a lot of uneven contributions like “Ma’at Crook’s” (Tyler Crook?) story, which felt out of place stood next to Bunn’s.  Comics love community, of course, but sometimes it seems like we’re in such a rush to build that fanbase that the book doesn’t get its legs first, and a similar fear could be put to how quickly TV jumped on this ship.

I realize those are external concerns, but they play a part in how the book reads.  Otherwise, the short answer is: yes, the attention here is earned.  And like with Empty Man, you also have excellent design work to thank for how the book stands out on the shelf; Keith Wood’s wrapping covers and (we’ll give him credit for) full-bleed title page set the tone right away, the content fulfilling all the creepy promise of the look.