4 out of 5

You read horror comics.  I know you do.  So when was the last time you were actually unsettled by one?  El Torres has been putting out some pretty good horror books at his Amigo imprint: Westwood Witches, Roman Ritual, and more.  While the art and stories in these comics have been quality, I wouldn’t say they creeped me out.  I mean, it’s hard to do, some kind of balance in the art and concept that elicits a particular chill; it’s as difficult as doing it in a movie or TV show, especially when you’ve been exposed to way too many attempts over the years.  So, yes, the buildup here is that Straitjacket gave me goosebumps.  And it did so while playing its cards very clearly: there are no details withheld to force a mystery on top of things, nor does it mislead or cliffhang; it’s just the right blend of ooky art and tense writing.

The institutionalized Alex is believed to be schizophrenic, having killed her brother at a young age for the stated purpose of sending him to “the other side.”  She maintains this claim – that she’s still in communication with her brother, who helps to protect her from “feeders” from that other side – leading new doc Thomas Hayes to think perhaps another diagnosis is in order.  But, inevitably, soon there are things he has trouble doctor-y explaining, and violent mishaps and deaths start to stack up at the hospital…

While Straitjacket is by no means short on story, I do think the first thing to grab me was the art.  Guillermo Sanna employs a stark black and white with dashes of red used pretty exclusively for blood.  The monochrome / pop color thing isn’t a new technique, but Sanna’s renditions of characters and their responses to violence are so primal that it elevates the horror scenes to another level; his dialogue scenes are just as strong thanks to a “casual” photo real style (like Michael Lark) that captures the personality of the characters immediately.  These exchanges, as scripted by Torres, are incredibly naturalistic, flirting with just enough medicine / shop talk to sound legit while also giving Doctor Hayes and Alexandra plenty of room to develop their arcs.  Amigo still suffers from translation woes on occasion, but Jennifer Van Gessel seems to have a better grasp on getting the flow right over previous editor Sandra Molina; Straitjacket has zero hiccups in this sense, though Malaka Studio’s lettering does seem to put some bubbles out of order.

There are a couple of moments that feel more like visual dressing than anything – such as the horrific image on the cover of the second issue – and book four has a bit of an anti-climactic “battle”, but thankfully that interaction isn’t really the focus of the story, as much as shifting us back and forth between believing Alexandra’s visions and stories and thinking that she’s truly crazy.  But otherwise, man, just flipping through the book again gives me goosebumps.  Amigo print runs seem pretty low, so this might be hard to track down, but if you’re a little burned out on the slim horror book pickings – the over-gore at Avatar; horror movie retreads from other various publishers – sift through the ‘S’ backbins until you hit Straitjacket, and get the heebie jeebies from the artwork alone.