Basketful of Heads #2 // Review
Horror is hard in comics. There are no opportunities for jump scares, for one thing, and the words and images have to really work together to build mood and atmosphere for another. When it's done well, though, horror comics can really sing, and Basketful of Heads #2 is an excellent example of it being done well.
This issue is primarily a tight little thriller, following June's escape from one of the Shawshank escapees from the first issue. After some cat and mouse in the police chief's house, June gets hold of the axe that glowed the last installment, and eventually cuts off her tormentor's head with it--and of course, it continues speaking. June gets hold of the titular basket and puts her first head in it.
Of course, this book is written by Joe Hill, one of comics' masters of horror. Hill does a magnificent job building that atmosphere of real dread so that the reader has some worry for her (even though we saw her alive and well in the flash-forward at the beginning of the first issue). There are a few Joe Hill/Stephen King cliches--look for their favorite misspelling of the word "whore"--but that's to be expected in a Joe Hill joint.
The entire art team helps to build that atmosphere of dread, as well. Leomacs' art does it through panel layout and character acting--the way he draws the scummy escapee to look like a low-rent John Cazale is inspired. Dave Stewart's coloring does it by reminding us of the terrible storm that overshadows the whole event, with his sickly blues and greens. The lettering by Deron Bennett does it through the use of subtle sound effects. This really is an issue where every element sings.
Basketful of Heads #2 is great horror. It's one weakness is it's so decompressed that the issue reads too quickly--the events of the story probably cover at most ten or fifteen minutes of the protagonist's life. One suspects that the series may be a stronger read in trade, though there's something to be said for leaving the audience wanting more.
