Review: Black Fire (OGN)

Since I became a comic reviewer I’ve rarely had time to sitdown and finish a graphic novel. I look at the page count and think about how muchelse I need to get done and it instantly goes to the back burner. It’ssomething I’m trying to fix since I’m sitting on way too many trades to review.I took a random chance on Black Firefrom Archaia Entertainment, I wasn’t really given any advanced notice about thebook other than the synopsis and the fact that it was created, written anddrawn by one man: Hernan Rodriguez.

The book is set during the Napoleonic wars and opens on anintense action sequence. A soldier is running, but from whom or what it is unknownas the page slowly zooms in on the fleeing man. Instantly we get the sense of dangerand intensity from the first page of the story. The next page shows the sameman getting his head taken off by someone else on horseback, only to be shotoff the horse by another French soldier. A foot battle breaks out as the man isstill alive and it ends up taking the help of two more French soldiers to killthe unmounted man. After taking a moment to rest, one of the men listens to the groundand can hear the gallops of more horses coming straight for them. Tired andbloody, they begin running for the forest clearing at the bottom of the hillthey’re on. One of the men takes a bullet through the shoulder, but they allmanage to make it to the tree line where their pursuers stop short of.

They make camp of the night, not worrying for the moment whythe Cossack’s didn’t kill them when they had the chance. During the night oneof the men, Ducasse, has an intense dream about a creature feasting on the corpsesof dead soldiers. He yells out at the beast to stop, but it doesn’t listen. He’sjoined in his dream by the soldier that was shot. He’s now a ghostly white apparitionwith a head that is on fire and tells his friends that he’s dead, but also thathe’s better off than him since he’s fucked. The next morning the two living menDucasse and Serpierre cover the dead man in snow and begin looking forprotection from the cold.

They come across a town that looks run down and deserted.They begin exploring until they come across a well in front of a church. Feeling a sense of relief they run to the well until someone calls out to them to put their guns down.They duck for cover as they call out that their Napoleon’s men. After a shortexchange their brought into the church and introduced to a random batch ofsurvivors all huddled around a fire. There’s people from all walks of life in the group: thieves, other French soldiers, a Portuguese soldier, an ex-prostitute turnedarmy cook and a man so sickly that he’s locked in another room. He’s a sicklysight and the key to all the trouble that is about to begin for the camp of refugees.

At first the story seems like a period war story, but soonafter the sickly man dies it turns into horror/thriller story in which anancient evil begins killing the group off one by one. After each murder it usesthe soul of the previous victim to trick another victim into falling into itstrap. Soon the group is at each other’s throats and yet forced to rely on eachother in order to survive and figure out what they’re up against.

The concept of the story can really be summoned up as such:John Carpenter’s The Thing mixed with Event Horizon set in the Napoleon War. Iknow reading that you’re going to think that I’m full of shit, but really that’swhat it is and it works. There are several slow parts, mostly the pages inwhich we're forced to hear everyone’s sob story of how they got there. It’s notterribly interesting and it usually comes right before they die in order togive you some sense of loss when it happens. It’s successfully executed with afew of the characters, but otherwise falls short. The rest of the time you’rereading intense action sequences like I described at the opening of the book orhorrific scenes that will truly creep you out. One scene in particular showsthe evil entity tricking another man into eating his dead friend that he’smasking himself as. It’s disgusting and yet adds to the intensity of the story.

Creator Hernan Rodriguez crafts a great story full ofintrigue and violence that should capture the attention of any comic fan. Hisstory is very different from most horror stories. His characters are mostlyunlikeable and yet you root for them due to the terrible circumstance they findthemselves in. I also enjoyed the way he didn’t pull punches with the characters.Due to the cold environment they find themselves in, most of them are victims offrostbite and have lost fingers and toes. Yet they persevere and it makes themstronger characters for the most part.

What Rodriguez does right with his horror/thriller story isthat his characters act realistically in the situation that they’re in. Theydon’t instantly become heroes and take on this great evil, they want to get thehell out of the town and never look back again. Also the world surrounding themis also very real, even if there is a supernatural aspect to their struggles. Thefrostbite, the food shortage, they are constantly forced to deal with realevents that affect them as much as the evil trying to kill them. In particular Ienjoyed the fact that they were all weak from being cold and hungry and didn’tlook like supermodels. One character’s eye is constantly red from exposure tothe cold and trauma and these little details make the horror all the more realwhen it happens.

More than the story I enjoyed Rodriguez’s art style. It feltJapanese inspired with the uncombed hair and yet maintained a European style forthe most part. I can tell that this comic was not created with the Americanstandard for comic books. It breaks panels with dialog and has several movieinspired scenes that give the book a feel of actually moving. The only placethat the art struggles is in the character designs. Granted most of thecharacters are French soldiers wearing similar uniforms based on their rank,but a few of them look almost exactly alike. At one point I thought one of themain characters were killed until I re-read the page and corrected myself. Evenstill just turning the page of the book my eye’s told me it was one of the maincharacters. In general though the art style is very good and hopefully we see alot more of Rodriguez’s style and fantastic coloring abilities.

You may think to yourself that this book sounds weird and creepyand frankly it is. I don’t think I could compare this book to any other comic I’veever read. I could easily find other artists to compare the style too, but notthe story. It’s very strange and yet interesting. Additionally, I wouldn’t besurprised if Hollywood tries to make this into a movie since the formatting is basicallydone for them already. The bottom line is that I enjoyed it a lot; I went inknowing nothing and expecting the same. I ended up with a great originalgraphic novel that excited me to read more.

Score: 4/5

Writer/Artist: Hernan Rodriguez

Letterer: Troy Peteri

Script Translation: Anna Rosen Guercio

Publisher: Archaia Entertainment

Price: 24.95

Release Date: 12/28/2011