Writer: Mike Richardson
Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $2.99
Release Date: February
The Secret is classic American horror in the I Know What You Did Last Summer/Scream mould. From the sinister cover of a mysterious hooded figure lit only by a streetlight, to the movie clichés liberally sprinkled throughout this first issue of a four part miniseries, The Secret is the creation of Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson. Ably assisted by artist Jason Alexander the series marks part of the celebrations surrounding Dark Horse being in the comic book publishing business for 20 years.
Very much a set-up issue, the premise here is that of a bunch of teenagers who like to play pranks using mobile phones on unsuspecting people by randomly punching in phone numbers, calling and then declaring to whoever answers that they know their secret. Of course something goes wrong and the group find themselves being harassed by a hooded stranger who wants to know how the kids know his “secret”. God forbid anyone blocks their phone number before messing around like this, but hey it would be a short tale if everyone acted in a sensible manner. Our protagonist is Tommy. He is seeing Pam who in turn introduces Tommy to her circle of high-school friends. Said circle of friends take an instant dislike to Tommy for no real reason than to probably make us feel as though they will make great corpses in the future issues.
The characterisations run the gamut of any modern American high-school based TV program. Tommy is the uncool social outsider, Pam is the popular girl with a heart, and Kyle the, well, dick. Then there are the characters that appear just to have their names mentioned for the reasons probably mentioned in my last paragraph. This may all sound awful, but Richardson manages to pull it all together in such a manner that the real payoff should come later in the mini-series. I hope.
The artwork by Jason Shawn Alexander is a mixed bag; on the one hand it has a distinguishing range of painted colours that embellish an assorted use of pencil lines, and on the other hand it sometimes is too distracting in it’s cohesiveness. A minor quibble is the intended age range of the characters involved. I know we have all been fed a diet of American TV programs where 16 and 17 year olds are portrayed by 25 year olds, but I didn’t think I’d see it in a comic. I just couldn’t quite buy the idea some of these people are meant to be quite young. All these quibbles taken into account, Alexander manages to do what Richardson does with the story and manages to hang it all together. The wonderful random looseness of the art sweeps you along and above all manages to convey a mysterious atmosphere.
The Secret is a curious book that quite rightly marks the anniversary of the fourth largest comic book publisher. There is obviously a determined effort by the company to push horror and thriller comics, which is not a bad thing. Well worth your time and money, The Secret is a Wes Craven-esque film on paper that will leave you wanting to know what happens next.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Fraud Prevention Office of a high-street UK Bank, where he has experience in combatting financial crime and working with the police and legal institutions. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.