There's Something Wrong With Patrick Todd #1

Written by Ed Brisson
Art by Gavin Guidry
Published by Aftershock Comics

Released July 6th 2022

Warning: This article contains story spoilers for the first issue. Read at your own risk

What a great cover right?! Yes, I still really do judge books by their cover pretty often and this is because it's the artwork that pulls me in, not just the subject matter projected by that artwork. With comics however, you gotta open that book up if you like the cover art cause of course, the covers are often done by different artists than the interior. If you're the fashionable artist of the year or exceptionally in high demand, you can make an entire career off of just doing cover art. Fortunately for us and this particular book, the cover artist is also the artist for the story. I can't say I'm familiar with Gavin Guidry's previous works (Going to the Chapel, The Death Defying, Rebel, Medidata and some TMNT). They are all stories I have yet to read but I can say that based on what I saw in this book, I'd really like to check those out. 

Writer Ed Brisson who's work I am very familiar with. I've talked about his work in past videos and articles (Famous for a slew of marvel books most notably Old Man Logan & Dead Man Logan, Dawn of X and some great creator owned books like Sheltered). This particular story takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, coincidentally the city we both reside in. I was thrilled to see actual Halifax locations in the pages of this comic. The downtown police station looking exactly as it looks here. The QEII Hospital and even an old hotel out in Bedford, which is another part of what we call the HRM, the Halifax Regional Municipality. And hey there's even a Tim Hortons in this book cause pre-covid, it really felt like there was one on every corner. There practically is. 

Of course, admiring the likeness of my own environment on paper, doesn't tell you what the story is about. Truthfully, from the set up of this particular book, all I can surmise is that this is about super powers... and murder & crime. It wouldn't be fun if the story didn't hold some decapitations and crime. I think we're all much more fond of super power stories that have some grit and gore. I know I am. I read less and less Marvel comics lately as so many of them are just a bit too squeaky clean for my terribly corrupted and corruptible brain. 

This first issue is great. I can honestly say I have zero criticisms or problems with it. It sets up the story properly. We know that something odd is afoot. We find out that our protagonist Patrick Todd is basically using other people to steal money in order to take care of his infirm mother. We find out that someone has it out for him although we don't know who! There's just enough mystery to leave us wanting. We're introduced to our antagonist Detective Anderson (some matrix nod there?) who comes across as a  fine dude who's just trying to solve some crime. All in all, this story feels a bit like an anti-hero story as the people Patrick chooses to commit his money-driven crimes, happen to be criminals themselves. We're not entire sure how Patrick knows this though. He's choosing to use bad people as his tools to rob banks so in his mind he's doing a little public service. Vigilantism is frowned on by the law so that makes the story more fun, I mean who doesn't love a good vigilante story?! All in all, really good set-up for the series. 

Something else fun about this first issue is that there's a little embellishment at the end of the issue where we see some police reports and medical reports which all talk about real places in Halifax. This adds a feeling of authenticity to the story that I really like. 

The Me You Love In The Dark

Published by Image Comics
Writer: Skottie Young
Artist: Jorge Corona

My reason for grabbing this book at all however was not based on my love of stories about artists but instead for my love of paranormal stories. The fact that I'm an artist experiencing a large period of creative block illustration-wise, is a bit of a coincidence in terms of reading something I can related to.  Of course, the fact that Skottie Young was writing something a bit darker and more adult was another reason for me grabbing this book, not to forget that fact that I love the art of Jorge Corona. So long-time fan of both these creators and of the collaborations they have been putting out together the past couple years. 

Yes, I realize I'm a bit late to this book. The trade came out in March 2022 and serialized in the previous year. But hey, better late than pregnant, especially if you live the United States. This story follows artist Ro who moves into an old house in a rural location in order to find some inspiration for a new set of paintings. The house she moves into is well-known to be haunted. I'm going to try my best not to spoil the story but my motto for my reviews from now on happens to be : read at your own risk.

I feel like this story is more about the dark and trapped emotions associated with creative blocks rather than anything paranormal. Particularly as an artist, the struggle to come up with something new and different while also tapping into your deeper self, is a relatable struggle. Hmm I'm kinda reading other stories with this "writers block" sort of trope, that is also mixed with elements of the paranormal.. i.e. Brian Azarello & Maria Llovett's  Faithless. 

I think it's a fairly obvious that pairing creativity with the paranormal is a good match because the idea that artistic talent and/or creativity come from the gods or other paranormal beings, is not a new one. It has been a prevalent theme throughout history. The ancient Greeks for example, often talked about this in mythology. The Muses and various gods dedicated to bestowing innovation, creativity and artistic talent on random mortals have many stories of this nature. Further to this, the idea that artistic innovation itself comes from a dark part of your soul or psyche, the old trope of the suffering, brooding artist, for instance; the very idea that creative talent comes from a place of darkness and some dark force rather than something benevolent is also not a new concept but seen in puritan cultures. 

This story feels like an exploration of creativity rather than a general haunting story. In fact, it isn't really a haunting story at all. The interactions Ro has with the being in her house is actually for much of the story, a very comfy one. She gains great friendship and inspiration from the spirit at first. It wouldn't be much of a story however if that were the end of it. Spoiler alert, the spirit isn't really all that nice. It's at this point that the story really becomes less paranormal again and feels more like the story of a battered woman. The red flags start to unfurl themselves before disaster falls. When this story takes a turn to domestic abuse, we see Skottie talking about how you can't force creativity and that when you do, progress is stalled. This happens multiple times. 

There are a lot of other great themes running through this story, like the dangers of isolation when in a new relationship, the pressures of creating under a deadline, self confidence, imposter syndrome,  abusive domestic relationships in general, and so many more things...

In conclusion, I really like this story. It carries so much more deeper themes and meaning than simply serving as another haunted house story. The ideas and themes is explore are all adult however so I wouldn't recommend this for anyone under 14 or 15 but that's really a parents judgement call there. 

Watch my review of this comic in Youtube: 

What I'm currently reading: July 2022