Diablo House #1 Review

Diablo House #1 from IDW - 

     Riley is the creepy surfer dude, that puts you in the mood...The mood the to get scared straight out of your mind. He's the host at Diablo House, an eerie tourist attraction that's part Gaudi-inspired, part Aztec temple, all horrifying hijinks, all of the time. Diablo House is a nightmarish menagerie where behind the door of its seemingly endless rooms lies a story so tragic, so frightening, that you just can't help but open it up to witness the fear inside. In this first episode, Riley tells us the sordid story of doomed couple, RC, and Angie. When Angie gets tired of being unable to live high on the hog, she visits Diablo House and makes a dark deal that is just too good to refuse. Unfortunately for these poor souls, they'll learn that money truly can't buy you happiness - Angie REALLY should have read the fine print. Notorious BIG famously said, "Mo' money, mo' problems" - well, RC and Angie are about to have BIG problems...And they just might be ETERNAL!

    From the twisted mind of Ted Adams, comes an anthology comic so full of fright, it'll keep you awake at night. Well, not really. But it is chock full of hilarious dark comedy capped off with a really spine-chilling ending. What it lacks in explicit gore, it makes up for in fine storytelling. It's easy to see that Adams loves the oldies - Diablo House is a loving homage to those great horror comics of yesteryear, comics like EC's Tales From The Crypt, and Warren Publishing's Creepy. Riley, our host, is a cool, revamped version of Tales From The Crypt's creepy Crypt-Keeper - he's a kooky, far-out, surfer-type with a thirst for mayhem and a darkly comedic bent. This guy just can't hide his glee when souls are set for suffering...Especially when it's time to pay the piper for demonic services rendered. Santiago Pérez Domínguez, AKA Santipérez, lays down the pencils and inks, and it is a wonder to behold. Santipérez's art shows heavy shades of horror greats, Bernie Wrightson, and Mike Kaluta - it's been a long time since I've seen horror done with such care - from the supple female forms to the intensely expressive faces to the elaborately rendered Diablo House itself, Santipérez's pages are a feast for the eyes, page after wonderful page. It's as if we've returned to the heyday of Warren Publishing's lucrative partnership with Selecciones Ilustradas, days that saw Spanish artists like Esteban Maroto, and Luis Bermejo become the reigning kings of horror comics. Definitely all kinds of AWESOME. Holding to the old-school flavor that runs through the book, Ted Adams opted for classic newsprint paper and he even asks for actual snail mail for his letters column. WOW! I can't wait to get my hands on the next issue of Diablo House. It's a total blast.

RATING: 9 out of 10. CAVEAT: FOR MATURE READERS ONLY.

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