Stone Island (2008)

C'mon then you pussies! Let's have some!

This is an attempt at a visceral horror comic that was originally published in British comic institution 2000AD. It was written by Ian Edginton with art by Simon Davis (most well known for Sinister Dexter - also published in 2000AD).

The story is in two parts. In the first, David Sorrell is sent to Long Barrow prison after murdering his wife and her lover. Along with his cell mate, Harry Rivers, he finds himself in the middle of an incursion by a race of violent aliens. The aliens come from an inter-dimensional world between Earth and the afterlife where they feed on the souls of the departed. Deciding to move to the source of their food, the aliens take over human hosts, massively distorting their bodies in the process, before killing or recruiting the other inmates. Rivers escapes from the prison but not before his body has been changed in preparation to receive an alien host.

In the second part, Harry and another escapee from the prison, Sara McCandless, are recruited by a government agency to take part in a mission to take the fight direct to the aliens. In a virtual suicide mission the small team must pass through to the alien dimension and release a bio-weapon to kill the alien invaders.

I was looking forward to this book as I have enjoyed other comics by Ian Edginton such as Scarlet Traces but it was a bit of disappointment in the end. It would probably have been a better story if the origin of the aliens was left a mystery and then the story left off at the end of the first storyline. As it is there is too much formulaic storytelling and no emotional connection with main characters so I didn't really care who lived or who died. I liked the art by Simon Davis very much - the figurative painting reminded me of work by Austrian expressionist artist Egon Schiele. Worth having a look at for the art alone if you can pick it up from a library.

First published on RevolutionSF on Saturday Oct 15, 2011