1 out of 5

Woof.

The Loves (Jeremy – writer, Robert – artist) caught my attention with their Number 13 series in one of the recent volumes of DHP.  The compressed sci-fi tale seemed huge on world-building in a few scant pages, presented with a simplicity that was both complemented and juxtaposed by Robert’s warm, cartoonish art.  The Loves uncaught my attention when Number 13 became an ongoing, and almost immediately ‘world-building’ became poor planning and loose ends, and slick Saturday Morning Cartoon art became late-season repetitive filler.  But, still, I thought… there was a kernel of an idea.  So maybe again.

So here we go again with ‘Shadow Rock,’ a small 6x9ish TPB probably for kids although there’s some violence about, with the tagline of being ‘an all-new horror adventure classic.’  Mmhmm.  So here’s an indication of something: there’s a twist where a rumor about a haunted lighthouse turns out to be real.  Scary!  Except remember how that ghost appears on the cover, as friends with the lead character?  Yeah.  Good choice, whoever.  Tension: built.

The contents are no better, built off of every single new-kid-in-school cliche you can imagine, with panels lifted from soap opera reaction shots and insultingly functional dialogue that’s sincerely too dumbed down even if this were a book for *beginning* readers.  A late mystery offers potential, but its solution (spoiler) pivots around the assumption that there’s only one person with the name Phyllis in town.  MAD TENSION.  Even the lettering (hey, another Love – Maurice) is tragic, with inadequate spacing solved by seemingly thinning the letters and digitally shrinking the words so it seems like people are whispering.  Steve Sanders’ (not a Love!) colors are okay.

Enjoy!