Writers: Eugenio Mira & John Ridley
Artists: Jorge Fornés & Stefano Raffaele
Colorists: Jordie Bellaire & Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Cover Artists: Martín Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran; Jorge Fornés; Steve Beach
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Designer: Jillian Crab
Production: Richard Mercado
Masters Of Horror: Greg Nicotero & Brian Witten
Additional Creep Art: Michael Broom
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 23, 2024
Duty and responsibility come with maturity. The world threatens to press us into a mold as we age. But what if we didn't have to grow up? What if we could stay footloose and fancy-free forever? Let's shut out the world, leap into Creepshow Vol 3 #2, and see what happens!
Story: The Last Sleepover!
In Eugenio Mira's story, Hudson visits his friends Timmy and Emma for a Halloween sleepover. Hudson digs into the pizza as they watch scary movies. Finally, Kenny and Darla arrive. Unlike Hudson, their friends arrive without a parent, and their manner is reserved. Hudson and Emma taunted Timmy about his feelings for Darla. But when Timmy senses danger, he realizes he can't trust his close friend.
This first story in Creepshow Vol 3 #2 contrasts Hudson’s indifference to others with Timmy’s sense of belonging. Hudson fixates on his interests, while Timmy puts family first. “Kenny” and “Darla” have charted a future that combines friendship and freedom from responsibility. While Eugenio Mira’s story begins with Hudson, Timmy emerges as the central figure in The Last Sleepover! Timmy is too young to be forced to decide his future. Yet, as Hudson says, this “shit is about to get real.”
Art: The Last Sleepover!
Hudson and his mother cross the street amid driving rain. Dressed in his mummy costume, he never looks at his mother. When Timmy, Emma, and their mother greet their guests, the mothers look at each other, and Emma faces Hudson. Timmy gazes through his Jason Voorhees mask at his mom. The friends sprawl around pizza boxes and watch the Black & White Console TV. When Hudson ribs Timmy about his interest in Darla, Emma rises and leans against her friend. The doorbell prompts Timmy to barrel between them. But when he and his mother open the front door, Jorge Fornés tilts the scene 45 degrees, and Timmy and his mom become silhouettes facing two costumed children.
Jordie Bellaire adorns pages in light shades of gray, yellow, orange, red, and green. The beige borders and black or colored dots suggest faded newsprint. While Timmy’s red coverall links him with his mother and sister, the bloodstains adorning his limbs and torso suggest a thematic link with someone else.
Story: Trigger Warning
Tre reports frightening incidents online and revels in the popularity of his posts. This angers Marcus, who accuses Tre of publishing false news and trading in human misery. When Danielle suggests Marcus needs a little perspective, he slams her for following her muse. Marcus believes the truth is more important than fiction and goads Tre into spending the night in an abandoned apartment complex. Tre accepts Marcus' challenge. But events unfold differently than Marcus expects.
In this second entry in Creepshow Vol 3 #2, each protagonist is the hero of their own story. Tre entertains people who want something to talk about. Marcus' single-minded adherence to provable facts makes him indifferent to the Human need for entertainment. In his determination to be correct, Marcus hurts his friends and misses that Tre has named his site Urban Legends. Danielle keeps an open mind about her friends’ differing outlooks as she pursues a literary career. Although she writes fiction, Danielle proves the most capable of the three. So when opportunity beckons in John Ridley’s story, Danielle can capitalize on the mysterious events at The Kingswood Projects.
Art: Trigger Warning
Tre stands before an old building on his phone in Trigger Warning before Stefano Raffaele shows him with his friends. Marcus watches as Tre revels in his likes and reposts. Danielle sits on the couch in the modern apartment, her pen poised over the notebook in her lap. The next day, Marcus, Danielle, and a police detective surround Tre's backpack on the rough, littered floor. While they talk, uniformed officers survey the weathered and crumbling plaster walls.
Romulo Fajardo Jr lavishes a loaded palette on Stefano Raffaele’s lifelike art in Creepshow Vol 3 #2. A gray droplight conjures a yellow cone before the couch when the sky turns gray-blue outside the modern apartment. The overhead lighting casts shadows on Marcus and Danielle while heightening their skin tones. Danielle ventures to the old apartments and sits before a pink window. The formerly green and yellow walls are now teal and gray, while the scarlet letters and handprints seem brighter. Danielle writes in her notebook while a silhouette of legs and feet treads a green and black hall. Soon, orange and red will blossom.
Lettering & Additional Creep Art
Pat Brosseau lavishes black, uppercase words in white dialogue balloons and white letters in black ones. Sound effects herald a doorbell, squeaky hinges, and the thumps and thuds that will open new chapters of Timmy and Danielle’s lives.
Michael Broom introduces Timmy’s story in Creepshow Vol 3 #2 by showing the Creep hover over Timmy and Emma’s house on a dark and stormy night and evoking the Green Goblin at the end. After bookending Jorge Fornés and Jordie Bellaire’s classic comic art, Michael Broom shows the Creep channeling Tre's showmanship. Broom takes inspiration from Stefano Raffaele’s lifelike art and Romulo Fajardo Jr’s vibrant colors to lend the Creep a three-dimensional appearance as he breaks the fourth wall in a crowded coffee shop. Thanks to Image Comics and Skybound for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Two people’s greed forces an innocent boy to decide his fate, while a desire to entertain leads to a desperate struggle for survival in Creepshow Vol 3 #2.
Rating 9.7/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
