REVIEW: 'The Silver Coin' #2 by Kelly Thompson and Michael Walsh

Image Comics has given horror fans a special treat with the anthology series 'The Silver Coin.' So far, with two issues it's provided some cool twists and scares as talented artist Michael Walsh welcomes guest writers to create essentially a short story, a self-contained single issue of thrills, blood spills, and goosebumps.  

THE SILVER COIN #2

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Michael Walsh

Publisher: Image Comics

Release Date: May 12, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

Part two in the saga of THE SILVER COIN from all-star creators MICHAEL WALSH, CHIP ZDARSKY, KELLY THOMPSON, ED BRISSON, and JEFF LEMIRE! In 1993, classic mean girls bully a misfit teen at an idyllic summer camp. When the teen reclaims her power after a violent encounter with The Silver Coin, what follows is the stuff of horror movie legend.

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

This month, the talented Kelly Thompson contributes an homage to summer camp slasher films with this little ditty about mean girls, bullying, and revenge, as only the Coin can provide. It's a horror of its own kind for Fiona Waterman as she arrives at camp to dirty looks and disgust from her new bunkmates. 

It's never a good sign when you pre-game the night before camp by watching a VHS tape of a 'Sleepaway Camp/Friday the 13th'-type slasher film. Fiona can't wait and of course, upon first blush, her camp arrival is a bit of a downer. No psychotic masked killer anywhere to be found. This is too bad because her cabin mates are unwelcoming, to say the least. They're awful girls and make Fiona's life miserable. 

Thompson tells a pretty straightforward slasher story the likes of which Fiona was watching. It has all the elements (except for the teen sex slasher films were notorious for) you'd expect - a wholesome ingenue as protagonist tormented by others, a camp with a bloody history, and an empowering supernatural force. In an anthology like this, you expect certain turns to happen given the arc of a single 22-page comic. You can see how the story is unfolding. It's just the nature of this type of storytelling but Walsh makes the story all the more impactful with some great creepy designs and blood-splattering action.

Walsh orchestrates a great ramp-up to the end. Things get darker both figuratively and literally as the story goes on and as the line artist, colorist, and letterer, Walsh is in total command of the rhythm and pace of the visuals. From the sunny colorful first day at camp to the montage of cruelty inflicted upon Fiona to the escalation of violence that takes place at the end, Walsh takes readers into a nervewracking whirlwind of suspense and gore. The use of silhouette is especially effective.

'The Silver Coin' #2 offers another creepy installment in the horror anthology series. This time Kelly Thompson takes us back to a time of summer camp serial killers and teenage girls. It's a fun and deadly trip down memory lane made all the more exciting by Michael Walsh's creative and terrifying visuals. This is a treat, a chilling confection for horror fans.