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Necronauts
by Gordon
Rennie and Frazer Irving
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What to Expect:
Real men taking on sheer evil in a tale of horror and terror beyond the edges
of your imagination. With cricket bats.
Review by Alex
Frith
19th October 06
Before the DC deal, Rebellion
put together a number of lovely trade paperbacks in the classic full-size European
style. This is not to say that they’re better than the current line of paperbacks,
but don’t ignore them just because they don’t match the new U-sized
volumes. Necronauts is exactly the sort of book that fits the European format
well. It was always designed to be a one-off story, and the stunning art means
it’s worth buying in as large a book as possible.
And what about the content?
Well, Necronauts is a high concept job – let’s take four well-known
historical figures involved in the fields of horror, mystery and adventure and
tell a story in which they meet and get up to tricks. Harry Houdini is the key
figure – a genuine action man, who flirted with the occult but who was also
handy in a life or death situation. Next most important is HP Lovecraft. He doesn’t
get a huge amount of panel time in the strip, but the story revolves around the
dark extra-dimensional demons that feature in many of his works. Arthur Conan
Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) provides a useful narrator figure, much like
Allan Quartermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (sorry, had to mention
that series, but thankfully the ensemble concept is where the similarities begin
and end). Last and indeed least on the list is Charles Fort (who gave his name
to the Fortean Times, a monthly newssheet on the weird that is no doubt popular
amongst many a 2000 AD subscriber). All four have strong personalities in the
story, but really it’s Houdini and Lovecraft that hold the tale together.
The name ‘Necronauts’, although not spelled out anywhere, refers to
these two heroes. In the story they become explorers of the realm of the dead.
As is often a
difficulty with high concept pieces, the basic idea comes first throughout the
strip, admittedly beautifully presented by Irving’s art, but the actual
story feels like a secondary concern. That said, the story isn’t bad, although
it does at times feel rather functional. We are however blessed with an intriguing
and suitably gory prologue, before jumping into some action, betrayal and then
an ending featuring a genuinely poignant death. Like many a 2000 AD strip, the
whole things feels like a (good) John Carpenter film. No-nonsense heroes who have
no time for women but plenty of time for violence and one-liners, some genuinely
innovative action and horror scenes, and a cult sensibility. But it’s never
so amazing that you want a sequel.
Necronauts was
highly anticipated when it was first serialised not just because of the concept,
but mostly because it was Frazer Irving’s first full series. He’d
already wowed the readership with some one-offs, and it was clear that 2000 AD
horror had found a new star. And in Necronauts, Irving delivers in spades. The
stand-out feature for me is his page construction. Huge figures and elaborate
background details generate a mood for each scene, while smaller panels fill in
the story going on in the meantime. Weird wavy lines and shading techniques evoke
a character’s mood, or pile on the foreboding. It’s a bit of a cliché,
but this strip fully merits the metaphor of atmosphere so thick you can cut it
with a knife. Anyone put off by the fact that this is a black and white strip,
think again! The art here is far more readable and enjoyable than Irving and Rennie’s
later effort, the psychedelically coloured ‘Storming Heaven’.
Surrounded by
such impressive art, Rennie’s script can get overlooked. Now, I don’t
really know anything about the four protagonists, so I can’t comment on
how well he has brought them to life, but as a work of fiction they play off each
other very well. Houdini is bold and strong, Doyle is considered and practical,
Lovecraft is intense and intensely fearful, and Fort came across as a slightly
pompous nerd (and is a fun character for that). But the very fact of having four
strong characters and only 10 short episodes left me with the sensation that everything
moves along too quickly. It would have been nice to get to know Fort and Lovecraft
before jumping straight into the action, and although the plot matches the pace,
I’d have liked a bit more padding – maybe just a couple of episodes
to explore people’s motivations a little more.
It’s also
of note that the series ends up being an intelligent action story with a horror
theme – rather than being a horror story, as you would perhaps suppose from
the packaging. One can sense the characters’ fear of events, but this fear
doesn’t spill out of the pages as it can in an actual Lovecraft novel, or
even in some episodes of ‘Caballistics, Inc’, for that matter.
Like that other 2000 AD
horror epic, ‘Killing Time’, Necronauts delights in its old-world
look and feel. This is particularly evident in the promo material for the strip.
The trade features six pages of Irving’s sketches and comments, much of
which is devoted to the advertising for the series – a lavish poster-style
image to set the mood. Irving makes some interesting comments along the way, and
if you enjoy seeing the artist’s process, these pages are a delight. It’s
also a pleasure to see the book itself joining in the theme, with the author descriptions
on the cover flaps matching the old world horror tone.
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