Joe R Lansdale's comic book adaptation of Robert E "Conan" Howard's classic horror story Pigeons From Hell has everything going for it: a spooky original story to adapt, a masterful horror writer on the adaptation, and terrifying art and colors by Nathan Fox and Dave Stewart. Together, they are a potent mix of gore, suspense, folklore, and terror.
Howard's original story is a much-loved gothic bayou horror classic, about a haunted house where the blood of slaves and the cruelty of their masters wreak a curse on a huge, rotting mansion. Lansdale's update of the story -- the new protagonists are a pair of sisters descended from the slaves who inherited the house from their masters; they go to take possession with their friends in a kind of Scooby Doo pack -- only lightly changes the material, leaving the scare intact.
But best of all is Fox's art and Stewart's coloring, which are blood-soaked, entrail-laden, and painted in an eerie palette.
If you like a good scare -- and creepy, gothic art -- then this is your thing. Many thanks to Dark Horse for supplying a review copy.
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it's a helluva package. Lansdale's great, and Fox is a daredevil with the brush. i really enjoyed it.
-T
Months old, but GREAT series. I'll generally buy anything Lansdale does sight-unseen, and am still holding out for a Hap & Leonard movie. (...and he's a local, so i'm quick to promote anything he does!) He also did "Conan & the Songs of the Dead" with Tim Truman a while back, which was great as well.
^m^
How does it compare to the 1988 graphic novel adaptation?
My friend Steve and I were so taken by the name Pigeons From Hell, that we started our first band with the name back in 1988. Funny we never read the Graphoc novel, didnt have the money to buy it form the Bud Plant catalog...heres a few of our rediculous "songs" ytou can download for free : Pezz people: http://www.yumfactory.com/empty3s/track21.html
Kiwi Fruit: http://www.yumfactory.com/empty3s/track14.html
Bush Bash: http://www.yumfactory.com/empty3s/track8.html
- Attaboy
Looks good to me. Lansdale rocks. I'm a big-time Hap and Leonard fan as well... can't believe it was 8 years between H&L books!
Anyone interested in this story should see the 1961 "Thriller" TV adaptation, with a Boris Karloff introduction, and Brandon De Wilde as the survivor - it's a great adaptation, and some of the best horror ever on broadcast TV.