Comics Buyers'
Guide # 1205
(US Comics Industry Weekly Newspaper) 20 December 1996
Tony's Tips
Gary
Spencer Millidge's Strangehaven (Abiogenesis, $2.95) is an incredibly intriguing
comic book from a creator who has seemingly sprung from nowhere. From the first
of the five issues I've read, Millidge knocked me out with his sureness of story
and art. I can't believe I hadn't heard of him before this.
Here's the short version of Strangehaven:
Handsome teacher Alex Hunter ends up in the small village of Strangehaven after a beautiful spectre forces his automobile into a close encounter with a tree. He recovers from the accident in a local bed and breakfast, meets a few of the citizens (including a young lady who takes a definite shine to him), gets his car put back together, and leaves - only to end up back in the village by the end of the day. This time, he stays; Meanwhile…
It's the odd "meanwhiles" going on in Strangehaven that have reviewers comparing the series to Twin Peaks. A secret society meets in the first hour of the new day. A Brazilian shaman tells fantastic tales of his mysterious tribe. Another villager claims to be an extraterrestrial. Not to mention the ghost.
In the hands of a lesser talent, Strangehaven could become an incomprehensible mush of soap opera and weirdness. But Millidge moves his characters and plot with such confidence and craft that he never loses his readers. We may not know where he's taking us with this story, but his is clearly in control of it.
Suggested for mature readers, Strangehaven
merits my highest recommendation. It's a treasure.
©1996 Comic's Buters Guide/Tony
Isabella
If you've read any notable pieces concerning Strangehaven that may have escaped
our attention and does not appear here, we'd like to hear about them! E-mail
us at webmonkey@millidge.com
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All
text and images (c) copyright Gary
Spencer Millidge/Abiogenesis Press All rights reserved.
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