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James Tynion IV and Joshua Hixson's The Deviant #1 has all the potential to become my most masochistic read of 2023.
Because it brings exactly that kind of horror that crawls under my skin and gives me itchy day and nightmares for weeks. And I don't like it. I don't enjoy the scare like some people do.
I don't need someone squeezing my amygdala or my prefrontal cortex just for the uplifting mood that follows.
Probably because those squeezes leave pressure marks that take quite a while to disappear. You know, those itchy things under my skin.
I mean, I'm good with...well, getting better with mystery horror, scary fantasy stuff or supernatural thriller, but some things - and this is Tynion's specialty - are just too real. And they squeeze hard.
But then why am I reading it and blathering on about it?
And why don't I just stop reading but put the series straight into my pullbox instead?
Well, why do people run a marathon?
Because of the experience. Testing your own limits. The process itself. Because effort is rewarded.
And the pull. Anyone who has ever run longer distances and broken through the wall knows what I mean.
And hardly anyone masters his craft as well as James Tynion IV. He knows how to captivate his readers. Pull them into the vortex and then leave them at exactly that moment, where you just got used to the spinning and don't want it to stop.
Here too.
And then he also has Joshua Hixson at his side. His stunning illustrations convey exactly the right mood for this grimdark story. Hixson's artwork always wanders somewhere between detail and allusion, giving the imagination enough room to unfold after he has given it a concrete direction.
Because it brings exactly that kind of horror that crawls under my skin and gives me itchy day and nightmares for weeks. And I don't like it. I don't enjoy the scare like some people do.
I don't need someone squeezing my amygdala or my prefrontal cortex just for the uplifting mood that follows.
Probably because those squeezes leave pressure marks that take quite a while to disappear. You know, those itchy things under my skin.
I mean, I'm good with...well, getting better with mystery horror, scary fantasy stuff or supernatural thriller, but some things - and this is Tynion's specialty - are just too real. And they squeeze hard.
But then why am I reading it and blathering on about it?
And why don't I just stop reading but put the series straight into my pullbox instead?
Well, why do people run a marathon?
Because of the experience. Testing your own limits. The process itself. Because effort is rewarded.
And the pull. Anyone who has ever run longer distances and broken through the wall knows what I mean.
And hardly anyone masters his craft as well as James Tynion IV. He knows how to captivate his readers. Pull them into the vortex and then leave them at exactly that moment, where you just got used to the spinning and don't want it to stop.
Here too.
And then he also has Joshua Hixson at his side. His stunning illustrations convey exactly the right mood for this grimdark story. Hixson's artwork always wanders somewhere between detail and allusion, giving the imagination enough room to unfold after he has given it a concrete direction.
In any case, I won't stop reading, even if it itches between the issues. This writing and the art, they are both just too terrific to miss out on them.
Deviant #1 (Of 9) Cover A Joshua Hixson
€7,90
SERIES PREMIERE As snow falls over Milwaukee in 1972, a blood-stained Santa Claus commits unimaginable atrocities against young men. Fifty years later, a troubled young writer interviews this so-called "Deviant Killer," who still maintains his innocence from behind bars. And… read more
