Advance Review: The Thing On the Doorstep #1
From Top Cow
Eldritch horror from Top Cow with The Thing On the Doorstep #1 starting off this new mini-series.
Daniel Upton and Edward Derby have been best friends almost their entire lives—until the day Daniel shoots Edward dead in the Arkham Sanitorium. Daniel insists he’s innocent despite all evidence pointing to him. Find out the truth and witness the beginning of a doomed relationship and Edward’s slow descent into a horrifying world beyond his control in this new series.
Writer: Simon Birks, Artist: Willi Roberts, letterer: Rob Jones, Cover A: Willi Roberts, Cover B: Lyndon White, Cover C: Willi Roberts [1:10 Virgin] & Cover D: Lyndon White [1:25 Virgin]
This initial issue is cleverly bookended, which has an amazing impact on how you read what follows the beginning, and what precedes what you have just read!
Kicking off with a bang and a gunshot, what follows would seem a mundane story of a growing friendship if it weren’t for that initial opening and the growing sense of unease through the main part of the tale.
“A dark, forbidding debut that opens with a gunshot, closes with madness, and fills the space between with creeping unease—The Thing on the Doorstep #1 is brilliantly bookended and impossible to shake.”
Daniel and Edward seem close friends, with similar interests (to a point) and closeness of their families,s including parents and children. There are trips to Europe and schooling involved, but the driving force is Edward's interest in the supernatural and macabre.
As we plot our way through their early life, there are some nice hints and glances, as well as the books and research Edward is looking through, that give us a sense of what this story may be leading to.
Those hints and glances are especially emphasised in the final pages of this issue as we learn the fate of an incidental character, which I recommend flicking back to where they appear before and see what they do. It is very cleverly put together.
From the darkness in the first and last parts of the issue to the brighter aspects of the duo’s growing friendship, the artwork does an amazing job of conveying both. With some vibrant colours and scenes. The art gives us excellent expressions and hints towards the greater story, along with darker hints and outright violence and madness in equal measure.
There was a dark and forbidding initial issue that draws us in with the first pages and leads us through with a sense of growing unease about what is to come, finishing off with aplomb and a brilliant finish that leads us to the next issue!
Get it at Forbidden Planet:
