Comic Review : A Walk Through Hell #2

A Walk Through Hell #2

AfterShock Comics

Writer – Garth Ennis

Artists – Goran Sudzka and Ive Svorcina

Sorry.

I’m very sorry I can’t think of some funny or clever way to start this review of A Walk Through Hell #2 by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka released by AfterShock. Mainly because, this is a gravely serious book, pretty much zero levity. Which, is such a shock, when you think about Garth Ennis’s catalog, and yeah there’s a lot of heavy, emotional moments in every single series he has, but also, there is a TON of crude, dumb, vulgar humor, the kind of humor I cherish so. But there is absolutely zero masterfully placed fart or phallic gags in “A Walk Through Hell”, and honestly that makes it friggin’ terrifying.

Now, I am in no way saying that this isn’t an amazing series so far. It is, I love it. I just never in a billion years would have expected something so tonally serious from Ennis. Issue #2 picks up right where we left Agents McGregor and Shaw, in the mysterious, ghoulish warehouse, which apparently is some kind of evil. This whole series has been shrouded in mystery, and honestly we don’t get any closer into figuring out what’s going on, and what happened in the past to these two agents (An event that is so traumatic the characters just refer to the incident as “It” and “that time” with somber faces), or whats going to happen. But, what we do get is a pretty powerful set-piece when our two agents stumble upon a colleague of theirs.

There are flashbacks to what seems to be a year or two ago, as Shaw and McGregor were investigating a pedophile ring (Like I said, this comic is damned heavy), but we get no information as to what came of it, or what would have terrified them. This is such a genius decision because I am on the edge of my futon ready to throw money at the employees of my comic shop next month to get my hands on the third issue. The dialogue is phenomenal, as it always is in something written by Ennis, but in two short issues, we’ve learned a lot about who these two agents are without really revealing all that much about them. Just little things that they say here and there, things that they care about (or don’t) and it builds them up no amount of forced backstory ever could.

The art by Sudžuka is pristine. Every panel is drawn so cleanly and perfect, that it adds to the nervous feeling you get in your stomach while reading it. Sudžuka’s art is highlighted by the dull muted colors by I’ve Svorinca. Nothing pops out at you too much, by design, and it keeps it feeling confined. Everything feels so chilly. I feel like I want to wear a sweater when I’m combing through the pages of this comic.

All in all, we don’t really get much information in this issue, there are some insane bits that will satisfy your cravings of excitement. A Walk Through Hell is a slow build, and I have zero clues as to where it’s going to go, which is a great problem to have in today’s world of “You know where this is going” storytelling. A Walk Through Hell is very much a modern-day Lovecraft tale of horror but without the big dumb tentacle monsters.