Dead End: The Rise of Samhain
By Jim Coon
Published by Eightball Graphics
I first encountered cartoonist Jim Coon at the Mighty Mini-Con in Herkimer, New York. I was a bit intimidated to see that his intriguing mini-comics series Dead End had nearly two dozen issues in print, but luckily for me Dead End: The Rise of Samhain collects issues #1-3 under one cover. It's a fun read. It's a tongue-in-cheek horror comic that reminded me of Boneyard by way of the Charlton Cuti-Staton E-Man comics.
Like E-Man, Dead End presents some bizarre circumstances (a blue-skinned outcast working as a gravedigger, a furious landlady taller than the rooms she inhabits) in a matter-of-fact manner that cheerily encourages the willing suspension of disbelief. The inner monologue of lead character David Stonebridge is delightfully sardonic, giving readers instant entry into this strange world.
Coon's artwork makes good use of the black and white format, for the most part, recalling the linework of Alex Robinson on Box Office Poison. A little more variety in line width would help individual objects and people stand out more on the page, but having only seen this collection of the first three issues, Coon may have developed further as an artist in more recent work.
This compilation ends on an amusing and perilous clifffhanger which has me interested in reading the rest of the series. You can't ask for much more from a collection than that. Grade: 3.5/5