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About Summer Shadows #2
Writer: John Harris Dunning Artist: Ricardo Cabral Colorist: Brad Simpson Lettering: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Dark Horse Cover Artist: Ricardo Cabral Publication Date: October 16th, 2024
Logline:
Nick searches in vain for ex-boyfriend Anthony on the perfect Greek island where he disappeared—but is something also on Nick’s trail? Something supernatural? Shadows stretch ever closer when he’s invited onboard a superyacht by the seductive Veronica. Meanwhile, Coast Guard officer Alekos is told legends of vampires who haunt these islands...
Summer Shadows #2 Review:
Written by John Harris Dunning, art by Ricardo Cabral, coloring by Brad Simpson and lettering by Jim Campbell; Summer Shadows #2 continues on from issue 1 where protagonist Nick has travelled to the mysterious Greek island Avraxos in search for his boyfriend Anthony who left with no warning.
As Nick asks a bartender, Marinos, at a pub if he’s seen his boyfriend; the bartender gets spooked after saying he saw him venture out to the expensive creepy yacht that has been circling the island. A yacht which is harbouring deadly secrets about its crew.
Nick leaves, only for Alekos of the Hellenic Coast Guard, to approach another bartender to ask what spooked Marinos. This new bartender explains what Marinos thinks he saw but that it could all be nonsense as Marinos likes to take hallucinogens.
Driving on the way back to where he’s staying, Nick is tired and accidentally runs over a goat. Shockingly it’s still alive and in agony so he uses a nearby rock to put it out of its misery. Meanwhile, an ominous figure watches from the darkness as this all unfolds. Adding an element of claustrophobia into the mix.
The next morning, Alekos approaches Nick and says he’s investigating the disappearance of a man named Kalky and he believes Anthony and Kalky may know one another or those responsible for why they’ve both disappeared. Nick is weirded out by this and exits the situation. Leading for an old sailor who’s lurking nearby to say that Nick needs to get out soon before it’s too late. Back at his accommodation, Alekos gets on the phone to HQ and asks his colleagues to look into this mysterious black yacht.
As dusk settles in, Nick is relaxing on the beach when he’s approached by a goth-clad stranger named Veronica who looks like she’s taken the aesthetic of Marilyn Manson’s “The Man That You Fear” film clip a bit too literal. She invites him to the black yacht later for a party later in the evening which Nick feels intriguing yet odd but the reader feels a bit like “ITS A TRAP!”
Segwaying into an exchange back at the pub where the old sailor is exchanging stories with Alekos. He goes on to recount a time where as a young man he helped at a dig site with unearthing a statue which bore an uncomfortable resemblance to the exact person who was paying for the dig in the first place. He was pristine and beautiful just like the statue. While just coincidental to start with, the old sailor mentioned he’s since seen the same person many times in his life but that he’s never aged a day. Warning Alekos that this person is a vampire!
So is Summer Shadows #2 my kind of weird? 100% it is.
Summer Shadows #2 feels like late 2000s era Vertigo Comics. There’s this slow burn going on as the story gradually unravels which adds to the tension and growing fear. The vampires on the boat are otherworldly represented in a panel depicting one of them as more an apparition than just a stock standard creature of the night. Feeling very “Dracula, Motherfucker” for a moment, which will undoubtedly impress those Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson fans.
It also shrouds the vampires in complete mystery as it’s quite clear the usual vampire rules aren’t going to apply here. All elements which are heightened thanks to Brad Simpson’s coloring which evokes this surreal dread. Then there’s the gradual take over of the town. A town that’s about to be enveloped in darkness which makes this comic book series as close to Salem’s Lot and Midnight Mass as Dark Horse comics is going to get.
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