It Eats What Feeds It #1
Scout Comics
Writer: Max Hoven & Aaron Crow
Artist: Gabriel Lumazark
It Eats What Feeds It is the latest offering from Scout Comics. The story follows a young boy named Kenny who takes on a caretaker role for a sickly, middle-aged woman. This is a horror story though so it can’t be that simple. There’s something very wrong with the mansion this woman, Francois, lives in. Kenny notices it right from the start and as the story unravels it’ll affect everyone in the house. I hadn’t actually heard of this series until recently when my fellow reviewer, Danilo Tèo mentioned it to me. I’ve read it a couple of times since and now it’s time for a review of this creepy comic.
Right off the start, I have to say that this is a very simple comic. The story is simple. The dialogue is simple. The art is simple. That’s not entirely a bad thing though. This is a comic that really sticks to the classic horror genre conventions. We have the bayou, the seemingly haunted mansion, a mysterious monster, the creepy locals, teen protagonist, and an eye-catching blonde. It’s very by-the-numbers and that’s both a good and a bad thing. On the good side, it makes “It Eats What Feeds It” an accessible book. If you’ve never read a comic but you’re into horror and want to start reading here then you’ll have no issue. Everything will feel familiar and you’ll have no problem understanding what’s going on.
On the bad side, this strict adherence to genre cliches makes the book predictable to horror fans. There are 62 pages in the preview copy and I could tell almost everything that would happen after the first 10. This might be a problem for some people who are fans of the horror genre already. It’s a double-edged sword. The use of genre conventions is one of the things that’ll make fans appreciate this story but it’ll also make it feel formulaic and lazy to others.
The dialogue doesn’t help with this problem. Throughout the story, it’s very unnatural and not in a good, stylistic way. It was rare to find lines in this story that read like something a real person might say. There’s a lot of exposition that would’ve been better handled with thought bubbles than speech. The early pages are a great example of this. Kenny is outside the mansion spewing exposition about how he feels and his past but he’s on his own. No one is there to listen as he tells full stories about his adventures in the girl’s locker room at school. There are moments where the lettering is done well and used to illustrate emotion from the characters. Font size is changed to show anger at times while narration boxes show the passage of time. I just wish they’d used more thought bubbles to make the exposition feel less forced.
I think the best part of this comic is probably the art. Lumazark does a fantastic job making this story look as creepy as possible. He uses a dark, grimy-looking colour scheme for his backgrounds with brighter colours on main characters and in important scenes. It helps keep your attention on the focus of each panel while maintaining a dark, mysterious atmosphere for everything else. Gabriel really has done a great job here. There’s also a number of visuals that show influence from famous horror films like “The Shining” and “The Exorcist”. If you enjoy the genre then you ought to get a kick out of these.
Overall, I’d say this is a passable but predictable book that is saved by its art. If you have an appreciation of horror genre clichés then you should enjoy this. Just don’t expect any surprises if that’s the case. I’d recommend giving “It Eats What Feeds It” a read even if you’re not a horror fan though. The art is extremely well done and despite its flaws the story never dragged. It’s a decent, quick, and enjoyable read. If that’s the kind of book you’re after then “It Eats What Feeds It” should leave you satisfied.
Click For More Comic Book Reviews
It Eats What Feeds It
It Eats What Feeds It is a fun little book if you're interested in the conventions of different media genres. It makes heavy use of horror cliches but the result is that the story and characters are a bit lacking in depth. Part of this may be down to the short length of the story itself though. The lettering is fairly mediocre. It does its job and there's some basic stuff that's done well but an over-reliance on speech bubbles makes a lot of the exposition dialogue feel forced and unnatural. The art is the best bit of the book. Lumazark has done a fantastic job presenting these characters as well as the setting. While I haven't come across Gabriel's work in other comics I'd have to say that reading this has left me hoping that I will see more of him. He's a very talented artist. The book is worth reading but I didn't find it particularly great or anything. Just good, creepy, cliched horror fun.
-
Story
-
Characters
-
Art
-
Lettering
