3 out of 5

I’m a little confused over what format Tyler Landry’s Vile will be – ongoing?  Is this a single issue?  An anthology series? – but whatever way, this story appears to stand alone, so it’s time to review.

Let’s do this a little backwards, and talk about presentation first: I am absolutely in love with Study Group Comics’ printing style.  This might end up sounding like a backhanded compliment, but I hope not.  In this day and age, while I don’t mean to imply that getting any creative endeavor into the public’s hands is easy, I feel that there are many more avenues than their used to be; not just in terms of a digital-only format, but also crowd-sources projects and currently a seemingly pretty wide range of indie-ish publishers who get some rack space along with Marvel and DC.  My view may be skewed, shopping in NY where big name shops like Midtown Comics have the traffic to afford racking these books, but I do visit other shops on occasion, and in my relatively short comic-shopping time – perhaps a decade now of active purchases – I do believe that, in general, the amount of small press stuff I see has grown.

With that said (at length, because I know not how to say things otherwise…), a lot of books end up looking the same.  Indie imprints might sacrifice some paper or printing quality, but they look like traditional comics.  Hand it to a mom or pop in a blind “taste” test and it might as well be Superman (not in terms of contents, just a visual judge-by-its-cover glance).  When I used to look at the small press section of a shop, it was like sifting through a zine rack, or odds and ends.  You wanted to pick up everything because it just looked interesting.  You could sense the person behind it.  And while I’m super stoked that comics are in a good spot right now to promote wider availability of things, I do miss that feeling of browsing that rack.

So, finally, the backhanded compliment: Study Group Comics brings that feeling back.  The unglossy paper stock, the slightly oversized dimensions, the limited coloring scheme; it really feels more akin to indie discoveries of the 80s or 90s, and it adds an element of adventure, or even that childlike ‘ooh this book is forbidden’ sense when seeing one of their titles.  Specific to Coward’s Hole, the cover, with its discomfiting green/purple color scheme and the haunting visage of its lead character, staring off the page, promotes this vibe to a T.  It’s fantastic.  And the contents – widescreen, minimalist design with a smart focus on positive / negative space, more haunting visage’s staring outward – amp this up even more.  The book is a joy to flip through, and gives off the horror vibe I believe the story intends just through visuals alone.

Alas, the story itself, or rather the way it’s told, undermine this a bit.

Coward’s Hole tells something of a generic space horror tale – only generic because that niche genre, taking inspiration from the vastness of outer space, tends to lead down similar narrative paths – about the survivor of a space battle, black hole traversal (the titular hole), and crash landing on an alien planet.  As he wanders about the planet, figuring on his rescue, realizations about the nature of reality – of his reality – dawn upon him.  Landry paces this out well (the aforementioned minimalist, widescreen panels really sell the isolation theme), and the lead’s roundabout acceptance of matters flows organically through the main dialogue exchange.  The before and after are rough, though.  During the space escape and crash, Landry employs a couple of expletives.  I’m not a prude (I don’t think…), and I’d even say tshat a punctuated “Shit!” could have been used effectively or humorously during the opening panels, but instead, talking about the aliens as “crud-fucks” and parking that between some grumbly mean and tuff one-liners, it feels like a forced attempt at grit, and it immediately offsets the tone, which is especially a shame since the visuals speak on their own quite well.  Later, when Landry has revealed the psychological plumbing of his tale, the same type of over-sellng takes place: He makes his point, and then he makes it again.  …And then he makes it again, just in case it wasn’t clear.

A lot of analysis for one story?  Take it as a good sign, of a book that has a lot of positives going for it that merits a more in depth discussion.  Assuming there are more issues of Vile, or however Landry resumes his output, I’ll be there.  Conceptually and visually, Coward’s Hole is excellent; being a bit more picky with the narration would bump it up to being really affecting and riveting.