Not my favorite issue of Solo, but Kristiansen's got an interesting style. Oh, I used to read the Vertigo House of Secrets, that's where I'd seen him before.
Thursday, October 03, 2024
The other day on BlueSky, somebody was looking for a comic I knew I had seen recently, which turned out to be Jordi Bernet's Solo #6. Which took me for damn ever to find on the blog, because I didn't have it tagged under "horror comics," presumably because it wasn't all horror. This one probably isn't either, but let's see! From 2006, Solo #8, by Teddy Kristiansen.
I'm trying to recall where else I've seen Kristiansen's art, since while he's from Denmark, it always feels like it's from somewhere colder, where the locals have to rub walrus blubber on themselves to keep from freezing to death. Or, I may just be meandering, because the lead story features Deadman but is written by Gaiman, so we're skipping that. "The Good Book" is written by Steven Seagle, and tells of some English missionaries in Papua, New Guinea. One comes to a bad end, while another is saved; not by the Bible, but by another good book.
The rest are written by Kristiansen himself: in "Love Story" an artist left sleepless in a heat wave walks the city in the cooler night, and becomes infatuated with a woman also awake. Next, "Ruins," where another artist is commissioned to paint the works of an aged architect, but as ruins. That one seems like it could go in a Lovecraft direction, but doesn't; it just feels sad. Finally, "Ice" follows a doomed Antarctic expedition, to its seemingly inevitable end.
He also drew some Sandman Mystery Theatre stories as well, or at least a one-shot I think. I definitely remember the ads for that & House of Secrets from old issues of Wizard magazine, and tore them to use to tape on my bedroom walls as makeshift posters.
ReplyDeleteSo, it’s definitely a horror comic, albeit not every story is in the traditional sense & Holy shit is this issue depressing to boot.
That being said, I highly recommend for those viewing this blog post to seek it out, just make sure you’re in a good-natured state of mind & mood beforehand because you might not be afterwards.
Here’s the link to read it online for those interested:
https://readallcomics.com/solo-08/
The Ruins one is interesting & I kinda guesssd the fact that the architect somehow simingly was able to glimpse the future, thus why he commissioned the paintings to reflect what they’d become.
Interesting ending to “The Good Book.” Love the message that goes with it.
“Love Story” feels kinda similar-ish to that old Twilight Zone episode “The Fever.”
“Ice” ended pretty much like how’d you expect it to end, but that doesn’t lessen how scary such a situation would be for those early explorers back then.