Review – Gideon Falls #1

March 7, 2018 1 Comment
Gideon Falls #1 – 
Image Comics
 
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Andrea Sorrentino
Colors by Dave Stewart
Letters by Steve Wands
 
Small towns, religion and the supernatural have teamed up in the comic book world before.  The combination is often volatile at best, and often uneasy.  That’s not the only thing that’s going on in Gideon Falls from Jeff Lemire and Image Comics.  Let’s find out how two worlds may soon become one.
 
There are two different stories at play here.  The first follows a priest, Father Fred, who is on his way to his new assignment in the small town of Gideon Falls.  We also follow a man named Norton, who lives in the city, but has a strange obsession with the trash in the city.  You definitely get the feeling that something is not right in both instances, but for different reasons.  Right away I felt like something was just off center about the town of Gideon Falls.  Then there is the question of why they needed a new pastor in the first place, which we do get a little bit of information on in this issue.  As for Norton, unlike his setting, he seems to be the one that seems a bit off.  I got the sense that he was on to something, but the how and why were constantly in the back of my mind.  At some point we are introduced to the common denominator in The Black Barn (which isn’t a spoiler because it’s in the description the Image Comics website.)  What we are left with are almost two entirely separate, and vastly different realizations from both characters.
 
It should be no surprise that this is a character driven story with Jeff Lemire involved.  There was instant intrigue in both settings of this story, and subject matter that just had a familiar but different feel.  Then you bring in the art of Andrea Sorrentino and the stage is completely set.  Visually both scenes had a completely different look early on, yet both felt eerie and unsettling.  I found myself waiting for something to happen on almost every page towards the middle of this book.  By the end I not only felt like I was at the start of a very interesting story, I felt like I had just watched the first episode of a TV series that I knew I was about to get hooked on.  If I am thinking ahead about what will happen in future issues immediately after I am done reading the first one, that is one of the best compliments I can give to any book.  I can’t wait to see how these two worlds collide and how everything comes together.
 
RATING: PULL / BUY