Number 68 - Tales From The Darkside - Hill & Rodrigues

 

Now this was a fun read.

Back in the mid 2010s, Joe Hill was asked to produce scripts for a revival of the old Tales From the Darkside TV show.  He wrote a selection of stories, and I believe they even filmed the pilot, but the network decided not to run with it.

The scripts have been adapted here for graphic novel purposes and illustrated by the illustrator for Locke and Key.  So the dream team of Hill and Rodrigues is reunited.

The producers were fools.  If they’d gone ahead with the series, based on the strength of these opening stories, it would have been an amazing show.

Hill has taken the basic idea of the anthology show and added to it. And I must say I think his plan, from the evidence here, was definitely touched by genius. The shows would have been linked in a very clever way.

In this book we have what would have been the first three stories for the TV show. 

In story 1 – Sleepwalkers – our lead character is an ex-lifeguard who was so engaged to his nightlife that he fell asleep at his post and allowed a woman to drown.  He finds himself at the centre of a Darkside event. A mysterious stranger appears to him and starts to warn him but falls asleep when he looks him in the face.  From that point on, everyone who sees him instantly falls asleep. This tends to lead to complications in life. Since this is only short, these complications aren’t explored as much as they could be, but it could have felt dragged out and repetitive if it had been any longer.  He gets his shot at redemption by the end of the story.

The second story, Black Box – introduces us to Brian Newman, the stranger in the first story.  We learn his backstory and the rather cool if convoluted reason he appeared and disappeared in the first story.  This is the longest story of the three and took up two issues of the original comic. This story more than hints at an ongoing backstory for the sadly defunct tv show.

The third story is batshit crazy.  A traditional enough concept - babysitter looking after demon kids.  The kids in this case have tablets that allow them to control the reality around them, allowing them to set assorted monsters on our beleaguered heroine and her boyfriend. The artwork in this was possibly the best in the whole book.  The parents' faces were so genuinely creepy... I had a total blast with this story.

It's a shame there's not a follow up book.  Apparently the scripts are available as actual scripts and I may have to invest.

He managed to capture the feel of the good episodes of TFTD and added to it with the hints of overarching storyline. I think this is my favourite graphic novel of the year so far.