The Theater #5
Publisher: Zenescope
Writer: Raven Gregory
Artist: Novo Malgado (cover by Sean Chen)
Colors: Michael Garcia
What will this issue bring us from the inside of the macabre, creepy, old theater down the block? Well, it will bring an interlude of a policeman investigating all the mysterious deaths/disappearances that have been linked to the theater, for starters! Detective Jacobs tries to use some stealth to get an idea of what’s going on inside. He doesn’t see much at first, but settles in his seat for the show. The “show” is a story about a young man who seems to be leading a normal life, until he shows up for work one day, and no one seems to recognize him after ten years of employment. His day only gets worse as this fate keeps happening to him over and over again. He even gets the same routine from his own brother! He finally gets through to a female co-worker that he had previously had a relationship with (they had an “encounter” at the workplace Christmas party). She slowly but surely remembers him, and vows to help him figure this mess out. As the story progresses, though, she wishes she hadn’t!
This is without a doubt the best issue of this series! The story about the guy losing his memory was super cool, and had me guessing until the very end. The part with the cop wasn’t all that exciting, but it did pay off in the end. The story was deep and had a lot of dialog at times, but it wasn’t unnecessary and the flow kept moving nicely. Being entertained throughout, and kept in the dark about how things would wind up until the ending, was great! The only part that seems a little out of place, was when the main character was trying to convince the girl that she knew him. He referenced a time that they had sex and made a remark that would get any dude punched in the face, regardless of the possible truth in the statement.
From an artistic standpoint, Novo Malgado did a pretty solid job with everything. There were a couple of panels that stood out, though. A discovery of a couple of dead bodies was really cool. They looked as you’d expect, but even just a little bit more distorted to add some creepiness to it. Also, on the very last page, we see the three people that run the infamous theater, and wow, did he do a great job making them look like the weird neighbor down the street. You know, the one that all the kids think is a witch or something. The colors were spot on, too, and the covers were also cool as usual. It’s something you should expect with great talent like Sean Chen and Ale Garza (below), along with all the other great cover artists Zenescope has! Rating 4/5
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
