Summer Shadows - Issue 1

What happens in 'Summer Shadows' - Issue 1?

Published by Dark Horse Comics, John Harris Dunning and Ricardo Cabral introduce us to a surrealistic mystery horror similar to story and feel to Twin Peaks and Midnight Mass in ‘Summer Shadows’ Issue 1.

Following Nick to an obscure Greek island on the Aegean Coast, we learn he’s searching for his ex-boyfriend who ended their relationship under mysterious circumstances. Along the way, some bizarre occurrences take place like his land lady taking suspicious photographs of him while he’s shirtless and an officer of the Hellenic coast guard, Alexos Kourkoulos, being asked to look into a disappearance.

A disappearance of a local girl’s hippy-friend, Kalky, who vanished after being lured into the seductive graces of a mysterious group of goths. Alexos agrees to take on the case, reluctantly. Leading into Nick being accosted by an old man on the beach, telling him he needs to get off the island while he still can.

It’s this surrealism and bizarre happenings which series writer Dunning capitalises on so well. Giving rise to a waking nightmare the local priest on the island experiences when one of the Goths visit him to offer a bribe. A bribe that has sinister implications. This scene is important as it drives home the gradual takeover this nefarious group’s shadow is casting over the island. This spread of evil is cautiously malignant and Ricardo Cabral’s artistic representation is ever so ominous. Representation set ablaze thanks to Brad Simpson’s coloring.

Meanwhile, on the boat which brought Nick to the island, a phone call is received by one of the crew. With Nick’s land lady on the other end, promising the stranger that she has someone for them. Moments later a candid of a shirtless Nick is received.

‘Summer Shadows’ - Issue 1 has all the trappings of an affected town oblivious to the horrors that lurk in its midst. There’s the quirkiness of Twin Peaks, the slow-burn thrill of Midnight Mass, with the eerie ill-omened tone of Salem’s Lot.