All Eight Eyes #3 // Review
Vinny’s been through hell. He was there when the old man was being attacked by a spider that was bigger than he was. Now, he needs a place to crash. Amy had offered earlier, so he pops by to see if the offer is still on the table. He’s exhausted. Maybe he’ll get some rest in All Eight Eyes #3. Writer Steve Foxe reaches the penultimate chapter in a contemporary horror story that is scratched onto page and panel by artist Piotr Kowalski. Brad Simpson handles the color. The giant spider horror continues to draw on emotional connections between characters in a chapter that finds some narrative direction.
Vinny and Dominguez just watched a towering spider crash through the floor of an abandoned building. It was kind of a horrifying moment, but they’ve made it through. The old man nearly attacked them in the process, but it turns out that he’s got a bit of a history with the giant spiders. Vinny doesn’t know that right away. A night at Amy’s place turns out to be more than Vinny can manage. The nightmares continue. Then, he stumbles into the old man. Evidently, he’d been a perfectly normal guy before his home was visited by one of those giant spiders.
Foxe plays the horror pretty close to humor. It’s kind of difficult to tell at times whether he’s taking the story seriously or not. The horror rests in a grey area between campy B-movie horror, serious psychological horror, and something altogether darker. There’s clearly some sort of motion towards a kind of darkness that resonates beyond the page, but it’s difficult to tell exactly what Foxe is going for as the central conflict of the story lacks clear direction until the end of the issue. The central emotional connection between Vinny and the old man and the horror that they’re both feeling DOES serve as a solid emotional center, though.
Kowalski’s scratchy rendering clutters the page. Movement feels pretty flat on the page throughout the issue. This is okay, as there isn’t a whole lot of explosively dynamic action in this particular issue. The giant creature falling through the floor might have had a bit more impact if there was more of a feeling of momentum to the visuals. Kowalski’s real talent lies in framing the giant spiders in various nightmare shots throughout the issue. Simpson’s color lends an added layer of atmosphere to those bigger eight-legged shots.
One might imagine that there’s going to be a big plot twist at the end of the series that’s going to allow it to all make sense. And one hopes that doesn’t happen. Some horror is just inexplicable. There’s so little to the basic premise of the story that it’s easy to feel like Foxe and company are going to lower some kind of a trick ending on things at some point next issue. There’s really no reason to think that this is going to happen, though. Foxe hasn’t given any indication of a big plot twist coming at the end of the series.
