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House of Gold & Bones TPB

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    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • House of Gold & Bones TPB

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    Released by: Dark Horse Comics
    Released on: November 27th, 2013.
    Writer: Corey Taylor
    Artist: Richard Clark
    Cover: Jason Shawn Alexander
    Purchase at Amazon

    A man with no memory of the events prior to the story at hand, a man simply called “Human” (with a name tag on his gray jumpsuit that says “Zero”), is at odds with someone named Allen, who is his twin and a man who makes the Human's internal mysteries become even more mysterious. Need for knowledge, and to understand what The Conflagration is, a concept he quickly comes to understand he is involved with, leads the Human through the terrain on the alien world he's found himself in and to a red city in the distance. Along the way he encounters an evil horde of bad guys led by someone who looks like the Human but in wild man form, and who asks “RU486?” a lot. He also meets Peckinpah, or Peck, another man who looks just like him. Peck acts as a guide for the Human in his messed up world.

    Allen shows up in various forms, including that of a woman, to taunt and otherwise mess with the Human, giving the poor lad all sorts of conflict and inner turmoil. Peck is there though to help him out, to give him the knowledge to find his own answers and to do battle with those who aim to hurt the Human, like that wild man that looks just like him. The Human's journey takes him into dark places and reveals repressed memories which help him get to his final destination, the Conflagration.

    It becomes obvious really quickly, and with a bit of rolling eyes, that all the characters share a common thread, that of which is the are all portions of the main character's psyche. He's at war with himself inside and trying to work out the hardships he's endured growing up and socially, and that's the whole story here. It's kind of a summation of someone's psychotherapy played out in a pretty predictable to be honest. It's not an overly engaging story, and the dialogue is pretty clunky at times. The word “hell” is used so much it becomes comical, and there's a lot of outside voice going on when it would better be told as an inside voice, such as in narration. No one talks to themselves when they hike alone. Writer Corey Taylor seems to be telling his own experiences of inner combat, but in a medium not his usual. As the front man for the metal bands Slipknot and Soulfly, music seems a better means of storytelling for him, at least when looking at the example that is this graphic novel. Not having heard the concept Soulfly album this story is based on, a comparison cannot be made here.

    The story might translate better though if it had an artist more fitting to the material. The book is touted as in the genre of horror, but it really falls far short of being anything resembling horror. Richard Clark's illustration style in this book lacks any feeling of dread, suspense, helplessness, fright, or other emotions associated with something that is supposed to scare or instill fear in the reader or viewer. Instead the rather non-descript artwork cheapens the impact the story might have with a more fitting artist. The painted covers by Jason Shawn Alexander really set up how the book should feel as you read it: dark, brooding and with a bit of depression in there. Clark's pencils make it more of an action comic than anything else.

    Aside from reprinting the four issues of the comic book, as well as the four covers from Alexander at the start of each issue, the back pages of the trade paperback also reprint the variant covers for each issue. Artwork is by Richard Clark (and it's a really nice painted cover…why couldn't the series have been painted by him instead? That would have worked better), Kyle Hotz, Steve Morris, and Frank Quitely.


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