In the opening panels of A Town Called Terror #1, we see a man in a lab suit enter a macabre building in order to piece together and resurrect a set of dismembered body parts. Welcome to Terror Town: A place of monsters, freaks, and dark family secrets. After growing up in the town, John West is happy to have escaped to the suburbs, where he is enjoying a normal life with his wife, Julie.

However, his origins come back to haunt him when he is kidnapped one night by four men and taken to see his father who has, once again, died and resurrected. In the meantime, Julie attempts to get help from the police, only to have her account of the kidnapping strangely dismissed and to find that the video footage of her security camera has turned to static, leaving no proof of the events.

A Town Called Terror whets the appetite with pieces of story that promise to be fleshed out later on. We are given just enough information to make us interested in the next issue, but not enough to ruin the mystery of Terror Town and the West family. The artwork–mostly red, grey, and black blended together for shadowy effect–complements the murky mood of the story; the setting feels like perpetual nighttime.

Furthermore, I liked the odd aesthetic details of the West house (e.g. a gargoyle statue, a crucifix painting which sternly overlooks John and Julie having sex, and roses scattered at random) which seem out of place in a suburban home and are perhaps meant to echo how out of place John West is outside of his native town. This series promises to be a good supernatural thriller, complete with monsters and some body horror. It’s a brand that is right up my alley and I look forward to reading more issues.