It’s horror in comics weekend
on Splendid Comics and Sugary Tea, and as it’s Friday the 13th
Friday again, I’m going to cover the Wildstorm (a division of DC Comics) Friday
the 13th comics from a few years back.
There had been Friday the 13th
comics before this, with Topps comics releasing an adaptation of Jason Goes To
Hell and a crossover with another franchise in Jason vs. Leatherface, and a
couple of short runs from Avatar featuring Jason in both great regular and new
Uber flavours. The titles are the ones I’m most familiar with, and that’s what
I’ll be discussing here.
Jason’s time at Wildstorm,
though short, was his most productive time in comics with 13 issues of just
Friday the 13th, and 2 6 issue miniseries of Freddy vs. Jason vs.
Ash. It’s the solo material we’re going to be discussing here, starting with
the initial six issue miniseries entitled just Friday the 13th.
Written by Justin Gray and
Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Adam Archer and Peter Guzman, the series feels
like a lost Friday the 13th movie for the most part. I reviewed it
for the long gone comics site Fractal Matter – here’s what I said:
The first issue introduces us to our cast of late
teens/twentysomethings, a mixed group in terms of race and (as is eventually
revealed) sexuality, who have come to help get the old camp cleaned and
reopened. We also have an introduction to the disastrous history of the camp
itself, and (unfortunately) two misspellings of the main character’s surname in
the space of two panels.
Over the next few issues, we get to know the characters
a little better mainly through interpersonal conflict, we get a little more of
the history of Crystal Lake, a few false alarm jumps and some well-timed and
reasonably well executed death scenes.
Palmiotti and Gray make a decent stab at telling a new
story in a well-worn series without it feeling quite as formulaic as
Wildstorm’s Nightmare on Elm Street title. This does at times read like an
adaptation of a reasonably good entry in the series. Unfortunately, it falls
down whenever they stray too far from the well-worn path of the movies,
attempting to graft a whole new tragic history onto the Camp Crystal Lake area
before Jason’s arrival. This could have worked, and would have added a whole
new dimension to the saga, had it been played a little better. Instead we get
levitating zombie children rising from the lake and a bizarre and suddenly
introduced concept where Jason is the vessel of the anger and hatred of a
murdered shaman.
No, he isn’t.
Archer and Guzman’s artwork, while a little cartoony at
times, does bring a certain youthful vitality and energy to the book, along
with possibly some of the most buxom women in comics. Their Jason is tall and
broad, resembling Kane Hodder’s take on the character in the later movies.
The most impressive aspect of the storyline is probably
the covers by Ryan Sook, with special praise going to issue one’s shot of a
machete-wielding Jason, the face of his next victim reflected in the blade, and
issue four’s moody, blood-red portrait of a post-kill Jason on a rowing boat.
The forthcoming TPB collection of the storyline
therefore is cautiously recommended. There’s a passably entertaining Friday The
13th story in there, if you can wade past some of the missteps.
I reread the series recently,
and six years on, I pretty much stand by that - except the artwork really has
grown on me in that time, and I guess that the levitating zombie children and
shaman anger isn’t the worst idea the franchise has had to deal with. Oh, and
that’s Ken Kirzinger’s Jason, not Kane’s.
After the initial six-issue
miniseries came a run of three two-parters. Marc Andreyko and Shawn Moll were
first, with Pamela’s Tale. As the name suggests, it fills in the gaps in Pamela
Voorhees’ life before the first movie and shows us a pre-drowning young Jason.
I’m not as keen on Moll’s artwork as I was with the Archer/Guzman team, but he
certainly catches Betsy Palmer’s toothy smile.
I’m not completely sold by
their take on young Jason – the reason Pamela has to take him to the camp with
her is because he’s been torturing small animals. On the one hand, that’s a
common fictional shorthand for “grows up to be a serial killer” – but I’ve
always thought of young Jason as an innocent until he was drowned. Barring that
personal taste issue, the story works well and would make an excellent original
streaming movie.
Next comes my favourite, Jason
Aaron and Adam Archer’s How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Young Davie Falkner has
the bone disorder craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, and the facial deformities it
gives him lead him to be mocked and bullied by his fellow campers. Thankfully,
Jason kills them all but leaves Davie alone. So Davie follows Jason around, and
Jason kills a bunch of other people, and there’s a sheriff on meth and a
helicopter, and... just read it, OK?
After that, it starts to fall
apart. Ron Marz and Mike Huddleston’s Bad Land juxtaposes the story of three
fur trappers 250 years ago and a group of hikers in present day Crystal Lake. It’s
set in the depth of winter, a massively popular fan idea. Unfortunately, the
execution isn’t up to much – both groups needing to take refuge could have
happened in a summer storm, and nothing much is done with the snow beyond that.
Also, the story of the fur trappers functions mainly as a distraction and
Huddleston’s art doesn’t really suit the story.
Finally, there’s The Abuser
& the Abused by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andy B. A story of a teenage girl
taking her revenge on those that have done her wrong, including her stepmother
and her boyfriend. Then along comes Jason... it’s not that bad, but would work
better with a generic Jason-esque slasher than the real guy.
So, apart from the two FvJvA
minis, that’s it for Jason in comics. A pity, really – there’s not enough
slasher action in comic books and Jason works better in the format than some of
his contemporaries. It looks like if I want to see slasher comics, I’ll have to
write my own.
Expected late 2014 from Freaktown Comics:
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