After The Cape 1969, the JustFocus team continues to follow the universe created by Joe Hill before Locke & Key and this new book fills a gap in the main narrative…
A trip into the woods
In the story The Cape, the main character Eric disappeared for three days in the middle of the book and returned to his mother even more powerful and angry. What had happened during this period? Fallen gives you a very dark answer. The horrific tone of The Cape can be seen from the inside page with a man exploding in full light. Proposed by the French publisher Hi Comics, this complete story is very far from Marvel because this indie story prefers to question the rules of superheroes than to keep them. Even though he has a cape, Eric is not Superman. He has just committed murder in the main narrative and feels totally overwhelmed by his new power. He would like to be the savior who knows by the comics but becomes a criminal due to his mental fragility. The comics give an ideal that Eric cannot achieve.Seeking refuge, both from the police and his madness, he travels to the place of his last vacation with his father and brother. He returns to an important and happy place of his childhood where Eric hopes to regain his carefree and innocence.
Eric will understand, however, that we cannot go back in time. The cabin is now occupied by role-playing enthusiasts who integrate it into their delirium in the middle of the forest. But Eric is not the type to be guided…
Between episodes
If 1969 could be a parallel door to enter the world of The Cape: Fallen requires having read the main series.It is a story of introspection where the reader enters the tormented brain of an anti-hero. Eric is tortured by his old or very recent past. From the beginning, he is angry when he sees his family cabin squatted. One of the occupants is an elementary school classmate, Josh, who was harassing Eric. Wanting to redeem himself, he offers her to join their Dungeons & Dragons party. Luckily, Eric gets enough points to become a wizard but he opts for a very dark magic. It can be seen by the player cards offered as bonuses. The reader who has seen horror movies quickly understands that the game will go wrong. He spots clues: a cabin at the bottom of a wood populated by bears, the absence of a telephone network, a man with a shaky mental balance… The tension rises as the night progresses. However, the gore of the second part surprises even the seasoned reader.
Unlike 1969, the original team of the first series is reconstituted. Screenwriter Jason Ciaramella, however, is freed from the work of adaptation and can take over this universe. It offers a completely different version of Eric's past. Cartoonist Zach Howard has a beautiful style. A dream page perfectly illustrates Eric's madness. The massive faces reinforce the harshness of the narrative but Howard knows at the same time how to play with subtlety in expressions. Its very tight framing gives an impression of claustrophobia. The precision of the scenery also helps the reader to immerse himself in the atmosphere and the diversity of textures offers superb images. No square is sloppy and he even manages to completely change his style for role-playing games. The colorist Nelson Howard also plays a big role by the strong presence of black and the play on contrasts.
Far from being incidental, Fallen is a useful extension respecting Joe Hill's creation. It's also an interesting addition by proposing a different origin to Eric's trauma.
If you are interested in comic book horror, do not hesitate to read the chronicles on Shigahime and An Emerald Study.
