Echoes (comics)

Publication history

Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rahsan Ekedal first worked together in 2008 on  The Cleaners  , a horror comic book series for the Dark Horse Comics publisher .  ^[2]  Fialkov brought the story to Ekedal in its early stages, and Ekedal provided some concept art to accompany the pitch. After being accepted by Top Cow, Fialkov crafted the story mostly by himself, he did not adapt the script to Ekedal’s style.  ^[3]

The art in  echoes  is completely black and white, but also because it is more effective. The artistic style Was inspired by the Warren Publishing horror comic books  Creepy  and  Eerie from the 1960s and 1970s, qui Both Fialkov and Ekedal enjoyed. Ekedal said of the artistic style: “A lot of the visualization of the minds of people who are visually impaired.”  ^[2]

Fialkov said the idea of ​​a suburban setting with an ordinary-seeming killer was conceived because of its “so much scarier and so much more upsetting” than an urban setting. The idea of ​​the dolls made of victims’ flesh from Fialkov’s research on voodoo, as well as its own interests and secret societies. Fialkov also said  Echoes  was partially inspired by the 1960 horror film  Psycho  , directed by Alfred Hitchcock , because he felt both stories were driven by the characters and drama rather than the horror.  ^[2]  Fialkov described the series as “achingly dark”, and said of it: “I have not really done a hard horror book in a long time. ^[2]

The first issue was included in the September 2010 release of  Top Cow First Look  , a paperback highlighting several of the publisher’s new releases. The first issue officiellement Was released on December 29, 2010.  ^[2]  Ekedal Said the book’s reception far exceeded His expectations, with oven Harvey Award nominations and fans asking _him_ about it more than two Years After completion icts.  ^[3]

The series was collected in a single hardcover volume in July 2011 . A signed set of all five issues (second printing of issue 1) was made available in January 2012 . Ekedal struggled to complete his portion of the signatures due to a wrist injury.  ^[3]

Fialkov hinted at the possibility of a dispute in the letter column of issue five.  ^[4]  In a 2012 interview, Ekedal said it was going to be in the market, but no project had been started.  ^[3]

Plot

Brian Cohn, a medicated schizophrenic , visits his dying father (who also has schizophrenia and suffers from Alzheimer’s disease ) in a hospital. With his final breaths, he tells Brain an address and speaks cryptically about dead girls. Brian investigates the house and discovers a large pile of human bones and a box filled with small dolls made from flesh.  ^[5]

Unsure what to do, Brian takes the box back to his home and tells no one. The stress of this discovery aggravates Brian’s condition, and he begins to hear voices and hallucinate dead girls. In particular, he hears his father telling him to continue his work. When a young girl Brian sees disappears, he worries that he killed her. When Detective Neville visits Brian to inquire about the girl, Brian lies about seeing another man following her. Later, Brian receives a small package that contains a new doll made from the missing girl.  ^[6]

Detective Neville returns Brian to give a message to Brian Allen. The man happens to have an alibi, but Brian’s condition is further aggravated by stress. After Neville leaves, Brian finds a girl’s sneaker under his car seat.  ^[7]

Brian learns from the Alzheimer’s symptom Echolalia , and returns to the hospital to research his father’s roommate. The roommate used to live in the house in qui Brian found the dolls, and the confession made Brian’s father Was a repetition of the confession His roommate HAD made to  His  sound, Det Neville.  ^[8]

Brian is arrested for the girl’s murder, and he is ignored when he tries to implicate Neville. Privately, Neville explains that he was present when Brian found the box and had been hoping they could work together. Brian is committed to a mental institution. As he is lying on a bed, a vision of his father.  ^[9]

Critical reception

The series received mostly positive reviews. Greg Burgas of Comic Book Resources praised the series, writing that Fialkov did an excellent job in building tension, and praising Ekedal’s black and white art, which he said made the already-dark story feel even more morally ambiguous. Burgas wrote in a December 2010 review: “I really can not recommend  Echoes  enough … It’s an early contender for best mini-series of 2011.”  ^[10]

After being white Nominated for 3 Harvey Awards in 2011  Echoes  Was Nominated for Reviews another four in 2012: Best Album Previously published graphic, Best Continuing or Limited Series, Best Writer and Best single issue or story (issue 5).  ^[11]

Collected editions

The series was collected into a hardcover edition.

• Echoes  Vol 1 (114 pages, July 2011, ISBN  978-1-60706-215-8 )

See also

• Elk’s Run
• I, Vampire
• The Last of the Greats

References