Chris Gooch

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

-- 4.5 stars --

IN UTERO opens with a bang - literally. A fire triggers a gas explosion that levels twenty Australian city blocks. A very pregnant woman named Liz and her young son Eli watch from their glass-walled apartment in the sky.

Twelve years later, Liz drops her daughter Hailey off at a holiday program hosted in a run-down old shopping mall. Older than the other kids and annoyed that she even needs a babysitter, it doesn't take much convincing for Hailey to sneak off with an older girl named Jen.

As the kids make a series of gruesome discoveries, it quickly becomes apparent that this "dead mall" is actually teeming with life. Whether it's alien or supernatural is anyone's guess. Enter: the government goons. (The head goon's mask placement? *chef's kiss*)

IN UTERO is creepy good fun. The artwork is definitely a vibe: by turns dreamlike and macabre (or both at once), some of the pages are simply spectacular (Jen's mom, wow). I enjoyed the plot, even if I wasn't always sure what was going on. (Are the creatures from another planet? Dimension? A Hellmouth?) Usually I don't love uncertainty but it feels appropriate here and definitely adds to the sense of dread and foreboding. IN UTERO delivers atmosphere and chills in spades.

I also really enjoyed the relationship between Hailey and Jen, and wanted more of a back story between Linda and John. There's definitely something going on there. Crossing my fingers for a sequel.… (mehr)

Five graphic stories from a talented Australian comics artist. Gooch covers the quiet desperation of the suburban protagonists; from a mother finding a used condom and not knowing if it's from her teenage daughter or her husband; to a young man at the end of a relationship dealing with a potential suicide; another finding out his girlfriend's father is cheating. There are a couple more spooky stories to round out the collection, which add some creepy suburban horror elements. Nicely drawn and very well written.… (mehr)

I absolutely loved Gooch's Bottled, and how he perfectly portrayed the raw and ugly emotions with both his writing and his gloomy palette. Well, that gloomy palette is back (with highlights of yellow), but the depth of emotion isn't there.

We follow two stories: a pair of thieves, desperate to hold on to each other and escape, because there's nothing else, and a giant of a prisoner, solitary and under-the-radar. They both run afoul of the bespectacled man who runs the prison, and eventually end up working together (kind of) to achieve his demise.

It's violent and unflinching about the horrors of living in an underground inescapable prison, without being too gratuitous, but the themes of friendship and family don't rise above. It's such a harsh environment, and those human emotions are necessary, but aside from one touching moment where one inmate betrays another, is in turn betrayed, and then they both forgive each other, it feels flat.… (mehr)