REVIEW: 'I Hate This Place' #1 by Kyle Starks, Artyom Topilin, and Lee Loughridge

 

I HATE THIS PLACE #1 

Writer: Kyle Starks

Artist: Artyom Topilin, Lee Loughridge

Publisher: Image Comics

Release Date: May 18, 2022

Cover Price: $3.99

SERIES PREMIERE

FOR FANS OF GIDEON FALLS AND HOME SICK PILOTS!

After inheriting a farmhouse, Trudy and Gabby are ready to start the next chapter of their lives together...except it's already home to a mysterious force that's attracted ghosts, aliens, and all kinds of supernatural beings for decades.

Now, Gabby and Trudy must play by the "house rules" in order to survive living among the most frightening creatures on Earth in this new series from KYLE STARKS (ASSASSIN NATION, THE SIX SIDEKICKS OF TRIGGER KEATON) and ARTYOM TOPILIN (ICE CREAM MAN PRESENTS: QUARANTINE COMIX SPECIAL).

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

Kyle Starks is known for action comedies like Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton, Assassin Nation, and Sex Castle. He's got a light-hearted touch with great action and characterizations much like Shane Black does for film. Here, in "I Hate This Place" with artists Artyom Topilin and Lee Loughridge, Starks leaves his comfort zone to head into the world of horror and science fiction. It's a wide-open space for storytelling that encompasses everything those genres have to offer with a sensibility all its own. The debut issue sets the stage in a traditional way but with enough quirks to keep it interesting. The potential for the series is limitless. 

All the hallmarks of a gory horror story are there. A beautiful young couple inherits a farmhouse in a rural area and unbeknownst to them, it is a magnet for supernatural beings. They move in only to find that the terror and the burden have been inherited too. Aliens and ghosts among other figures have settled into their property but there are rules of engagement to live by. It's an intriguing premise that is outright creepy and unnerving. Gabby and Trudy make a cute couple but this new life will test them in ways no one imagined. 

Topilin's versatility and attention to detail really give the issue the look and feel of a late 80s horror film like Children of the Corn or one of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. There's an atmosphere of suspense and eerieness that hangs over the property that's helped with Loughridge's warm lush colors giving the moonlit night a haunting blue shine. The detail in the trees and foliage offers a serene landscape but gives way to Topilin's more threatening horrific designs. There's a false sense of security that is designed to jump-scare the reader and it works. 

'I Hate This Place' also known as 'F*ck This Place,' is an engrossing and unsettling new horror series that has everything. A rural secluded farmhouse, a hot couple, ghosts, aliens, a menacing onlooker, a killer in hiding, you name it. With the potential to become the next big horror title, Starks and Topilin have left nothing to chance. Expect the unexpected and enjoy the ride as this horrific journey is just starting.