Comic writer Christofer Emgard and artist Tomas Aira have created a comic that touts itself to be in the same vein as H.P Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness†and the Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now†with their newest comic “The Whispering Darkness.†That’s a huge claim to make and so far, the first issue kinda does that but in a rather mediocre fashion.
Hannah Vance, the daughter of a preacher and devout Christian, has been made commander of her military troop as they pass along a mountain and into enemy territory. Of course, there are darker, more sinister things involved in these mountains.
The story is OK for the most part. It’s written like your typical “this what my troop did in enemy territory†story with the usual drama readers come to expect. Thing is, the first issue keeps what kind of war and all these other details secret to make it seem like this can take place in any modern time period.
Of course, there are some questionable things like there’s no way normal humans can survive the high winds caused by a nuclear blast from that range. Also, we’ve seen these characters before. Every military troop character is here except the story’s point of view is from the “priest.†That may sound original and nice change of pace, but the constant narration that appears on almost every page gets jarring after a while. Some of it does help the story, others not so much.
Aira’s art also falls into the OK territory. While the use of colors and shadow to show that the characters are in the dark is great, the character models and backgrounds are just there to do their job. They’re not terrible in any stretch, it’s just not that amazing to look at.
The first issue of “The Whispering Dark†shows off an OK story with equally OK art. It’s not a terrible comic, nor is it amazing. It’s just there to scratch the itch of anyone who’s interested in this type of storytelling.
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