Survivor’s Club #8
Writer: Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen
Artist: Ryan Kelly
Inker: Ryan Kelly, Mark Farmer
Colourist: Eva de la Cruz
Letterer: Clem Robins
Editor: Shelly Bond
Publisher: Vertigo
A review by Amelia Wellman
Survivors’ Club issue eight picks up right where issue seven left off: amidst two bloody battles happening on two separate supernatural plains. To quote Chenzira upon witnessing the crazy carnage: “Holy fuck on toast!”
Half the group of ‘87 survivors are in Portland dealing with an angry ghost and a spider succubus, the other half are in Philadelphia, in between plains in an inter-dimensional haunted house trying to survive against a demon by the name of Mr. Empty.
One of six storylines has been wrapped up with Chenzira’s big baddie dead and banished but there’s still five more to go. I was worried that without Chenzira acting as the driving force of why the group is together that it would lose focus but from what we see of everyone else’s plights, the madness of what’s happening to these six people is going from cray cray straight through to batshit insane!
Throughout the madness I found myself being fed just enough information to make me feel as if I was in some sort of control of what’s happening. By the end of each issue, that minute amount of control was yanked out from under me. It’s the kind of story I’ve come to expect from Vertigo and, I hate to sound like a broken record, but very reminiscent of Hellblazer (and if there’s one thing I’ve made very clear in my life, it’s that I loves me some Hellblazer).
The art continues to be to ethereal and horrifying to behold. Body horror reigns supreme throughout with blood and guts galore. Mr. Empty’s design is some truly frightening stuff as well. The hollows under his eyes, his elongated limbs: all very creepy and very on par for the story being told.
The Verdict
Buy it! Chenzira’s storyline may have finished up but we’ve still got all the other storylines to finish and it’s looking like each one is just getting worse and worse. This is a series that had something for any horror fan. Body horror, haunted houses, demons, ghosts, bugs, and more haunt the pages of Survivors’ Club!
