NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #3
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Letters: Andworld Design
Publisher: ComiXology Originals
Release Date: December 22, 2021
Cover Price: $3.99
Filmmaker T.F. Merrit has spent decades confined in a retirement facility, which he claims is run by The Order of the Fly, a cult organization from his very own movie. And as the night goes on, Forest Inmann and his son Orson find themselves falling deeper into his cinematic nightmare.
The writer and artist behind Batman: The Black Mirror reunite to shed light on a celluloid artifact once thought forever missing, perhaps with good reason…
Score:
★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)
The heights that Inmann will go to in order to get the rest of the film from Merrit comes into focus as his credentials are questioned and his obsession is tested. Scott Snyder intensifies the tension in this winning horror story that brims with suspense and old-fashioned pulpy visuals thanks to the expertise of artist Francesco Francavilla.
Dr. Skeen has had enough of Inmann's shenanigans as Merrit has gotten more animated and agitated calling the good doctor the ghoul himself. With his cover blown and his nosy son wrangled by a security guard, Inmann's threats to call the police are dismissed. As for those kids' bodies in the basement, Skeen explains it away. Time's run out and he's forced to leave. However, so much is riding on this lost cinematic treasure the compulsion to draw it from Merrit is too great.
'Night of the Ghoul' is a love letter to monster movies from the first half of the 1900s. Snyder dives deep into the mythology of his monster tale by incorporating footage from the titular subject of the comic and it effectively provides the background for what this evil threat is as it crosses over into the real world. The tension builds issue after issue as Merrit describes the horror of this ghoul and how it manifests itself in the very retirement facility he resides in. The ghoul is real and the doctor is it. Or so he believes.
No other artist could have illustrated 'Night of the Ghoul' other than Francavilla. This is his sweet spot. No one loves monster movies more than Francavilla and so his aptitude for highly detailed monstrous creatures and dramatic cinematic scenes full of shadows and perfect lighting heighten the suspense in any panel. The transitions from the color scheme of the present - orange, yellow, and blue - to shades of gray depicted in the film from the past. It really reads and looks like a passion project that works on every level.
'Night of the Ghoul' continues to be the jewel of the Comixology Snyderverse with a riveting and intense horror story. There's a constant sense of unease that induces goosebumps without even revealing the monster at the heart of the story. It's a story of madness, obsession, and deception. The worst horrors are yet to come and we can't wait for it.
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