Elk's Run: Tenth Anniversary Edition

Elk's Run: Tenth Anniversary Edition
Released by: Oni Press
Released on: November 11th, 2015.
Written by: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Illustrated by: Noel Tuazon with Scott Keating
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When the first begins, a cyclist is peddling his way around a mountain path when a few pebbles come loose. It looks like he's being chased by three other guys but from here we cut to a full page shot of the small town of Elk's Ridge, West Virginia. It's a town with an odd past. It used to be a mine - literally, the company that ran the old mine that everything was built up around carved living quarters for the miners into the side of the mountain. Not surprisingly, there were cave-ins and people died.

When people moved into the town proper, the mine itself was deemed hazardous and it was boarded up. Rumor has it that the ghost of a man who died there named Elijah haunts the place. It's then that we catch up with the boys who were biking up the hill - three of them are 'just fucking with you, Mikey' but you can tell there's a bit of malice there.

One of the kids is John. At home, over dinner, he talks to his family about the merits of leaving town and going to college versus staying home and working, being a 'patriot.' John isn't happy here. He needs to leave, to meet girls (there aren't enough in town), but for now he'll sleep… until the alarm goes off before 11pm. He hops on his bike and heads back towards the mine to meet the other boys in the tunnel. He does and they goof around a bit but things take a serious turn when one of them is struck by a car - it's Mikey, he doesn't make it. The tunnel was supposed to be closed, the car wasn't supposed to be there and the man behind the wheel, Arthur Huld, will be held accountable.

Mike's dead, run over Arnold Huld - and it's time for his funeral. His dad can't keep it together. We flashback to the Vietnam war, some of the experiences that the town's founders had, experiences that shaped them and that inspired them to try to make a better place for their families. Huld was broken, he was trying to escape, and that was against the rules. When asked what he wants to do, Joe (that'd be Mike's dad), says he wants justice.

Huld is held accountable, an eye for an eye, just like the Vietcong were held accountable years back. Small town justice can be an ugly thing, as ugly as war. But Huld broke the rules. He was their friend, their neighbor, but he got drunk, tried to escape and he killed a kid. We learn how it all started when he couldn't keep a handle on his wife, how in allowing that to happen he shirked his responsibilities as a man. Arnold 'fucked it all up' - he wrecked Utopia and he pays for it.

John, still wanting to get out of town despite his father's insistence that he stay - is having trouble hiding his feelings. His dad tells him he needs his help unloading the supply truck in town but the subject of the public execution they all witness and many of them took part in cannot be avoided.

There is, not surprisingly, a family blow out but his parents, John and Sara, agree that there are more important things to deal with at the moment. Sara heads out and encourages the other women in town to get ready for the truck. There's clearly tension between she and the other women, one named Linda in particular.

A few minutes later, some cops show up. They're looking for Arnold Huld. Sara tells the cops that he and his family moved away but they tell her that his wife just called and that the reason they're poking around is because she reported him missing. Sara tells the cops she'll meet them outside and walk them over, telling the other women to get ready for the truck and to let her husband know what is going on. Along the way Sara and the cops spy her son John with his friends Matty and Adam. They're on their way to help with the truck.

They arrive at the house and the cops go in, they make Sara wait at the end of the driveway. Her husband shows up, sends her off to get the 'extra supplies' off of the truck quickly and quietly. Sara shows up, busts her son talking to an older girl and promptly puts a stop to it. Then her husband shows up with the cops…

As the story progresses, we learn more about the history of the own, about the men who formed it and why. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, right? John says they did not act in self defense, that their parents are murderers. Alysha wants to help him bury the bodies, put all of this to rest and John? He's so ready to get out of town he can taste it. Alysha is with him on this, she confesses to him that her did didn't leave, he committed suicide. Just another dark secret in Elk's Run. They get to the edge of town, find it's gated with a barbed wire fence and then they learn the hard way that this fence is electric. Armed men are following them, they see John's jacket on the fence. The four kids decide to ambush them, take their guns, and it ends in violence. Of course it ends in violence. They head down into the old mine to take cover and hide out a bit. They start building defences.

There's conflict in town too. Jim wants to split, the cop killing incident has understandably upset him. Sara makes it clear that won't happen but then Jim and John have a talk and Jim gives the kid his radio. Call for help, he tells them. John's dad? He knows what's going on when they find the body in the woods. He knows the kids did it and those emergency channels on the radio? He's monitoring them. When he hears their emergency call he makes it clear that 'this ends now.' They arm themselves.

Meanwhile, in the mine, John and the others find a stash of explosives and sets of blueprints. Jim Miller winds up down there with them - but Jim isn't alone, the rest of the adults are there too. It ends in violence. Above ground, Sarah talks to Linda about how her husband (John Sr.) has gone from Ward Cleaver to John Wayne, taken things too far. She tells Sara that others are planning to leave. When she sees John Sr. and the other men carrying a body into town, the body of John's best friend, she asks him what happened. He tells her 'this is war.' John Sr. has snapped, his son is now the enemy. The fire in the mine spreads. The gas lines open up. This can only end in chaos, violence and death because it's all these men know.

This collected edition also includes a few interesting 'bonus features' starting with an afterword from Fialkov who writes about how the meaning of this particular story has changed for him over the years, especially now that he's had a kid of his own. The original pitch that the creative team originally sent out to various publishers (none of whom bit) is also included - it's a full synopsis and it's accompanied by a few pages of concept art and process page art (mainly finished black and white pages before the colors were applied - interesting to see), some cover pages and some Elk's Run themed holiday greeting card art. Bios for every member of the creative team as also included.

This is pretty great stuff. The story is dark and suspenseful, at times even pretty twisted, but it stays grounded enough in 'the real world' that we can buy it. Small town secrets and the sins of the father are big themes here, with John Sr.'s scars having affected everyone in the town, especially his son. We know this is going to trickle down, but exactly how it does is where a lot of the suspense in the series stems from. Fialkov writes the characters realistically, the dialogue is always believable and his use of flashbacks to draw comparisons from the characters' respective pasts into the present is frequently used brilliantly. Noel Tuazon and Scott Keating illustrate the dark world where this plays out really well. The art is heavier on thick lines than it is on fine detail but there is plenty of expression in the faces and movement is conveyed very effectively, action too. The end result is a fantastic read, really intense stuff that keeps you going and hooks you through to the end.