Shopping malls have been a staple in the United States for decades, especially in the 1980s. However, malls have closed down in recent years due to a plethora of reasons and have been demolished. There’s also a culture of urban explorers who explore these abandoned malls and some upload footage of the exploring on the internet. Comic writer Adam Cesare thought “What would happen if the mall was alive?” and created the horror comic “Dead Mall” with artist David Stoll.
A group of friends decides to hang out at the abandoned “Penn Hills Galleria” mall the night before it is demolished. However, this mall has an evil mind and will do anything to turn these friends into “shoppers” and keep them in the mall forever.
True, the plot is the basic dumb teenagers getting into a situation they should not be in and they get picked off one by one, but the thing that makes this story stand out and is a lot of fun is the narrator. This story is narrated by the mall itself which gives a new dimension to the same plot. The problem is, Cesare has made the mall too likable to the point where you’re laughing along with the mall and wanting to see these friends get killed in one way or another.
Stoll creates a mall that looks like any mall that’ll look familiar to anyone who has ever entered one. The added benefit is that there are a ton of scary and creepy things in this mall, including the monsters that, though they aren’t seen that much except for the last two chapters, look amazing. There was a lot of thought put into the designs since they are supposed to be humans who were turned into a monster that represents their inner personality.
“Dead Mall” may have a cliched plot, but the mall narrating and mocking the characters makes this story stand out from the pile. The art has a realistic-looking mall and great monster designs that truly bring out the horror that is exploring an abandoned mall and running into something you don’t want to run into.
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