Review: Snowed In (One-Shot)

Well it’s been a few weeks since I promised this review, but here we are now. You’ve had a chance to forget about it and I’ve had a chance to review it. Snowed In isn’t exactly trying to reinvent the wheel with its story, but rather give their twist on the “everyone is going to die in this cabin” type horror story. We have our teenagers in lust looking to have a weekend of sex interrupted by horror and death. It’s a classic formula and the team behind the book executes it quite well.

The one-shot begins with three snowflakes that look exactly the same floating over to a cabin that’s about to become our place setting for death. Inside rests two couples cozied up in front of the fireplace. They’re getting drunk on some wine as they discuss their now cancelled weekend plans. Everyone makes predictable bedroom comments instead, that is until there is a loud knock on the front door. One of our characters, Todd, decides that he can’t leave a person out in the elements and lets them in. Todd will grow to regret this moment more and more as the issue goes on.

The man rushes inside and slams the door behind him. Some snow slips in underneath the door and the man stomps it out as quickly as possible as if it were fire. He begins to remove his coat and hat and soon we discover that his name is Andy… and that he’s Todd’s girlfriends ex-boyfriend. Yup, Todd really dropped the ball on this one. Andy freaks out and says that, “It lead him there” and that “it wanted him there” before passing out. After he wakes up he begins telling the group about his Uncle and the strange call he received. Upon visiting his cabin he found all of the windows busted out and his Uncle dead on the floor with a gun in his hands. He continues to say he was running from “It” and that “It” killed his Uncle, but he never tells us what “It” really is. That remains the mystery for the reader to figure out as one by one our teenage lovers begin to freak out about the situation and someone or something starts killing them.

What is really great about this story is that there is no black and white answer. There is of course a likely answer to everything, but the ending and some of the events are left up to you to decide. The story is definitely the strongest part of the writing and the concept of the book will keep you hooked all the way to the end. The dialog on the other hand is a bit mediocre at times. It’s not terrible, but it can be very cheesy and none of the characters come off as genuine when they speak. It’s completely forgivable though due to the genre of the story. Some times in Horror you need people to say exactly what their thinking rather than to be cordial and calm. It helps to have the characters speak like emotional children so that when they make a terrible decision that puts everyone else at risk you’re more forgiving when everyone is put at risk.

The book is in black and white which is definitely a strength for it. It gives it an eerie feel and captures the mood and tone of the plot. The character expressions are superb throughout the issue and give the book a real sense of fright that deepens the characters personalities as well. This is very important since it’s a one-shot issue and we’re not given the opportunity to get to know the characters more before the events of the plot.

Over the past year there seems to have been a surge of horror comics in general, but this book falls outside the typical product that was released. Is this the perfect horror comic book? No, but it’s very, very good. It has a great concept and plot, decent characters and art that compliment both elements. You can pick the book up digitally on Graphicly which is the only digital platform carrying the book, or you can track it down in print either from you LCS or online. I highly recommend it flaws and all.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Shawn Gabborin
Artist: Rick Lundeen
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Price: $3.99 (Could be cheaper digitally I don’t remember)
Release Date: October, 2011