After activating the experimental gravity drive aboard the ship, the crew of the Event Horizon are transported to an outer-space hellscape that defies comprehension. Already, this new realm is making some of the crew behave…strangely. And still, the worst is yet to come, as the king of this hell is about to make his entrance! Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 continues to build off the visual horrors of the original film.
There are a few films that have trouble watching. When there’s extreme gore and body horror, I tend to wince and often struggle to get through it. Hellraiser and Event Horizon are two that I’ve watched and dread watching again. So, I went into the first issue of Event Horizon: Dark Descent with a slight PTSD of the film and slight tenseness knowing my experiences from watching the movie. I was able to make it through the comic, though with unease. Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 continues that unease as to crew is plunged into hell and are confronted by the demons within.
Written by Christian Ward, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 focuses on the maiden voyage of the ship and what happened to it and its crew before the events of the film. With the drive activated, they have found themselves in hell surrounded by cosmic horrors and their own horror within. Quickly the crew succumbs to it all and that could be the only gripe of the comic. Yes, we know that something terrible happened, but there’s little tense build up to all of that and the second issue dives right into much of the crew being driven mad. It’s not a build up of visions or haunted by ghosts of their pasts, it’s just straight up madness at times resulting in their self harming with a popular one being gouging out their eyes. It’s quick to get to gore.
But, it’s not everyone, and that’s what’s interesting. There are some crew focused and not impacted, as far as we know. Instead they want to figure out what has happened and do what they can to get back to safety. It’s the levelheaded having to deal with the madness that will make what’s to come rather interesting.
The art by Tristan Jones delivers the carnage with color by Pip Martin and lettering by Alex Ray. There is some solid, and disturbing imagery, with eyeballs hanging out and the bloodshed by crew. The comic’s art drives right up to the line of butchery that might distract. There’s gore. There’s some crazy stuff. But, it’s not quite to the level where you need to look away at the abject horror of it all. The look overall is a dirty style that fits the horror aspect of the comic and delivers an unease in the visuals.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 is an interesting issue that dives right into the madness we all knew was coming. We only have hints as to what happened to this crew and there still some things yet to come that we know about. Overall, the comic feels like it’s doing a solid job of expanding this version of hell and the world of Event Horizon.
Story: Christian Ward Art: Tristan Jones
Color: Pip Martin Letterer: Alex Ray
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
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