REVIEW: 'Dead Seas' #1 by Cavan Scott and Nick Brokenshire

 

DEAD SEAS #1 

Writer: Cavan Scott

Artist: Nick Brokenshire

Letters: Shawn Lee |

Covers: Nick Brokenshire, Ario Anindito, Kelley Jones 

 Editor: Chase Marotz

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Release Date: December 21, 2022

Cover Price: $3.99

Ghosts are real and dangerous. But they're also valuable, their ectoplasm capable of curing countless diseases. There's only one problem: harvesting the wonder drug can be just as deadly. Prisoner Gus Ortiz is willing to take the risk in return for a reduced sentence-anything to see his daughter again. All it will take is a few months at sea scraping ectoplasm off the walls of the Perdition, a floating prison containing the most vicious ghosts on Earth. Surrounded by dark waters, Gus soon realizes that angry spirits are the least of his worries. The Poseidon Adventure meets The Haunting of Hill House in this supernatural thriller.

Score:

★★★★1/2 (4.5/5)

Cavan Scott and Nick Brokenshire are taking readers back to the early days of John Carpenter and Walter Hill with a dramatic supernatural thriller set on a floating prison full of deadly ghosts. The story of prison labor induced to collect valuable potentially life-saving ghost goo in exchange for a reduced sentence is rife with chills, scares, and a gritty cinematic world that's irresistibly gripping. It's like being back in a sticky-floored movie theater in the '80s watching 'The Thing' or 'The Warriors' where you're captivated by the situation and the personalities caught in a live-or-die plight. 'Dead Seas' is an expertly constructed thriller that harkens to the past but with a fresh veneer. 

Ghosts are real and living among us. The most dangerous are contained but their ectoplasm is used for scientific research developing cures for humans. Through some bad choices, Gus Ortiz finds himself locked up but is willing to participate in this collection crew at sea in order to reduce his sentence and get back to his family. Gus reminds me of Diego Luna both in appearance and his occasional use of Spanish. He's a good guy in a bad situation and readers will be rooting for him the whole way. He's surrounded by prisoners that are distinctively portrayed making them worth asking for their backstories. There's also this undeniable cloud that hovers over the story about the prison-industrial complex, not in a damning way, more of a matter-of-fact as these prisoners risk their lives to expedite their freedom. 

Any ghost story is worth isn't worth its salt without some terrifying ghosts and what Brokenshire has done is create a uniquely grotesque, gelatinous, and globular version of a specter that lashes out and consumes its victims. Having multiple baby-heads is quite frightening too. You'll have to see for yourself. Everything else, art-wise is very grounded and well-conceived. There's nothing glossy or pretty per se, just a detailed lived look from the haggard faces of the prisoners to the wrinkles on the clothes, Brokenshire has an eye for the little things that make up this realistic albeit ghost-filled world. 

'Dead Seas' is a winning new series because Scott and Brokenshire clearly love the horror genre and their reinvention of tropes creates a fresh and exciting new playground to thrill readers. You'll be immediately invested and hanging on every panel awaiting for the next jump scare to occur. Issue one sets the bar high for what's to come but if you're a fan of old-fashioned supernatural horror stories you won't be disappointed with 'Dead Seas.'