COVER OF DARKNESS: ORIGINS (Spoiler-free Review)

High fantasy, horror, and monsters. These are a few of my favorite things. Now, throw in the writing of George Michail, surround him with a talented team of artists, and they become a few of my favorite things too! It was a no-brainer when George reached out with a review opportunity for another Cover of Darkness story. I wasn’t expecting him to take the beloved Count Orlock, Frankenstein, and Cthulhu and make it his own, and that’s exactly what he did.

With this latest offering, he not only dared to play with the origin of beloved characters, he decided to bring craft beer to a bourbon tasting. IT WORKED!

The horror genre is like pizza. Even when it’s terrible, it’s still pretty good. Horror gets recycled more than a plastic bottle, the same character, and plot, just with a different director, writer, etc. What we don’t see too often is a completely different take on a character with an unabashed enthusiasm to create. Cover of Darkness: Origins changes all of that. Michail’s unapologetic re-working comes through so masterfully that I expected the Cryptkeeper to appear at the end of the story. And not to be outdone, Chris Cam provides his own “If you can do it, I can do it better” moment with his version of Mary Frankenstein. A FABULOUS new take on Mary Shelley’s masterpiece that pays the ultimate homage that would surely get Mary’s approval.

It makes for a fun read and keeps you interested while adding freshness to characters that we’ve read about so many times before. It’s this type of approach that keeps comics fun and puts creators like George Michail and Chris Cam on your “to watch” lists. But they’re not alone in this grand re-telling of old tales. Andy Belanger, Hailey Renee, Nikki Powers, Chris Cam, and John Delaney round out this team of stunning creators. You can feel the forest floor under your feet, smell the flames, and hear the screams in every panel. The bold colors and fantastic art ties everything together in a grand fashion.