Reviews – Sleepy Hollow: The Witches of the Western Wood #2, and Smile: For the Camera #4
From IDW Dark
From IDW Dark – the horror imprint by IDW Publishing – are two new issues this week with Sleepy Hollow: The Witches of the Western Wood #2, and Smile: For the Camera #4.
Sleepy Hollow: The Witches of the Western Wood #2
Revisit the world of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow in this prequel, The Witches of the Western Wood!
After witnessing the death of the Hessian, Sarah Archer is haunted by visions of a headless horseman. The ever-present specter influences Sarah’s already cold heart, and she grows more cruelly protective of her twin, Mary, and vindictive toward the residents of Sleepy Hollow. But she will soon learn that dallying with dark magic brings about deadly consequences.
WRITER: Delilah S. Dawson
ARTIST: Jose Jaro
COVER A: Corin Howell
After the introduction of the initial issue, the second part involves a couple of interesting timeskips. As the girls get older, things get more mature, and the differences between the two of them make some interesting reading.
One is looking on the bright side, living in the light and wanting to help the people of Sleepy Hollow. She has the best of intentions, with some new-age methods for this old town, and is also the type who could be accused of being an evil witch. Meanwhile, her sister is dabbling with the darker side of magic, which has some long-reaching consequences.
The narrative is excellent, and the horror builds up nicely, adding some meat on the movie that we know. I liked the artwork, and the differences between the two sisters are very subtle but grow as the story progresses.
The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but these good intentions lead to a horrifying result and what we know about the headless horseman!
Get Sleepy Hollow: The Witches of the Western Wood #2 at Forbidden Planet:
Smile: For the Camera #4
Some people just can’t cut it as models.
With three models dead by increasingly gory means, Purple and his brutal surFACE Modeling Agency are in crisis management mode. To try to prevent another incident, the agency sends the two remaining models on an all-expenses-paid trip, where the combative Ivy shares her theories on the cause of their misery with a bizarrely passive peer.
Yet despite how hard the people in Ivy’s life try to maintain the veneer of normalcy, the grinning cracks begin to form. Amid the reality-shattering hallucinations, very powerful people try to manipulate the models for their own purposes.
Discover how the models navigate this terrifying web in Smile: For the Camera #4, the penultimate issue brought to you by horror star Hannah Rose May (The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Rogues’ Gallery).
WRITER: Hannah Rose May
ARTIST: Miriana Puglia
COVER A: Skylar Patridge
The penultimate part of this horror series, and we get more smiles and more death.
Combining the horrors of the fashion industry industry, we get some some clever play which makes you distrust what you are reading…
It has some dark aspects, as the recovery from the last death has some repercussions for the survivors. In one sense there are some nicer aspects where the remaining models get better chances and a nice location to stay in – of course the guilt over the other deaths leans in here heavily.
There are some moving parts here, with the modelling jobs, interviews and the undercover investigation by the reporters – all to go with the creepy horror of the Smile entity.
There is a clever link back to the fist issue here, and the cliffhanger death of this final issue makes this a great build to what comes at the end.
