Survivor's Club #1 and Twilight Children #1

Survivor's Club #1 from the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics -

     A wave of unexplained, occult events claimed the lives of several people in 1987. Chenzira Molenko is one of them, but she is also a college professor and a genius hacker that has been looking for answers to the unexplained supernatural experiences she has as a child. Rummaging on the Dark Web, she finds a list of people... A list with her name as well. After some research she finds that only herself and five others remain alive on the list - A Survivor's Club. She tries to gather them all in order to suss out the reason that they are all still breathing. But is she gathering the Survivor's Club for the final slaughter?

   Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen write this supernatural whodunit, with Ryan Kelly doing a competent job on the pencils. The story has potential, but seems very uninspired, disjointed and meandering. Halfway into the book, there wasn't one character that I cared about, or found any connection with - it was a lot of exposition with nothing to anchor me to the story at all. 

RATING: 5 out of 10. Survivor's Club won't survive on my pull list.



AND

Twilight Children #1 from the Vertigo Imprint of DC Comics - 

   In a small town somewhere in Latin America, there have been some strange goings on. Huge, glowing orbs have been appearing on the beach for sometime - it's an unexplained phenomena that the townspeople have just come to accept - but the government wants to run tests, to know more. When three curious, and mischievous children come in contact with an orb, their attempt to touch it ends in a dazzling flash of light that leaves them blind...And leaves the the town with a beautiful, white-haired visitor that may turn the town, and the entire world upside down.     

   There is a saying in Spanish: "pueblo pequeño, infierno grande." Small town, big hell. It communicates the thousand issues that can overwhelm people living together in such close proximity. Gilbert Hernandez puts this idea to work in Twilight Children - from an illicit affair, to rumors of how the town drunk killed his family, to the weird acceptance of the strange, glowing orbs, Hernandez masterfully shows the insanity that can pass for normal in small towns, specifically, small Latin American towns. This interesting story showcases pretty brilliant realismo mágico (magical realism), and seems like it could have been taken from the mind of in Gabriel García Márquez. Darwyn Cooke's art is retro-gorgeous, as usual, and fits perfectly with the rural, left-behind-the-times feel of this story. While the story does meander a bit in the exposition, there's no denying that if Hernandez drives this one correctly, it could become an exquisite experience. If high-octane is your thing, this book will bore you to tears, but if you like the slow burn, and the blending of reality with a touch of magic/sci-fi (not sure which yet) and mystery, this book just might be for you.

RATING: 8.5 out 10.


-TEX