Ghost Island is a new black and white paranormal thriller, and it’s scary as hell!
Comic books are alive and well, and thanks to the fan-fueled craze of the Marvel universe, they aren’t going anywhere any time soon. The specific genre of “horror comics” gets far less love than, say, Guardians of the Galaxy, but thanks to publishers like Dark Horse and the more independent Eibon Press, horror fans still get plenty of juicy content to peruse down at the local comic shop.
What we don’t see is a lot of horror comic content out of the U.K. Well, thanks to creator and writer Joseph Oliveira, that is no longer a problem. Ghost Island is a new, independent comic written by Oliveira, with artwork by Anabela Turlione. I recently got to read the first issue of Ghost Island, and as a hardcore horror comic fan, let me tell you, I like what I see.
Here’s a bit of a teaser from the Ghost Island website:
“On a remote island a wealthy entrepreneur has secretly created a theme park full of imprisoned ghosts he has collected over time. Before opening the attraction to the public, he enlists the help of a small group of people to assist him. One of them being Josh Evans, a troubled psychic with a dark past. Whilst he battles his own personal demons, Josh is scheduled the task of crossing over & exploring some of the evil minds of the ghosts that lie within the island, but at what cost?”
If that plot sounds a bit familiar you’re not alone; Joseph Oliveira himself pitches the book as Jurassic Park with ghosts. Personally, I found the book to be in the style of several classic horror films, specifically House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts. Issue #1 is a real treat, as it comes in at 44 pages, twice the standard 22 we get in most comics.
Ghost Island is also promoted as a black and white supernatural thriller. Here’s the thing about black and white: it’s cheaper. I certainly can’t blame Oliveira for going this route because this project is completely self-published. However, at first the black and white panels really weren’t doing much for me, despite a compelling story (which is not for the weak of heart, BTW, as you get a double dose of child murder and alleged rape in the first few pages). But as the story shifts the setting to the actual Ghost Island and a creepy mansion, it made perfect sense. The black and white imagery just worked. Again, it played off the same kind of ambiance we get when viewing the classic horror films in black and white. As for the artwork itself, I was really impressed, and as the black and white grew on me, I realized that what I was looking at was very reminiscent of Frank Miller’s Sin City.I’m excited to see the second issue of Ghost Island because I get the feeling there are some seriously nasty ghosts lurking on the pages. So far we’ve only encountered humans in the story, and several of them are evil and nasty, so I can only imagine what the imprisoned entities will bring.
Ghost Island is meant to be a 6-issue series, but as I said before, this is completely self-published and comics aren’t easy– or cheap– to produce. With that said, YOU can help the cause. First, head over to ghostislandcomic.com and learn more about the project. More importantly, issue number 2 has a Kickstarter campaign, and you can read about the project, check out the prizes, and support the cause HERE.