Crawl To Me #1 Review

Crawl To Me #1
writer & artist- Alan Robert
Pub. IDW


It is said that Crawl To Me creator, Alan Robert doesn't get much sleep.  His personal motto is “Insomnia is the key to productivity,” but I think the creepy stories in his head are what keep the man awake.  Crawl To Me #1 was written to be a head trip.  The story starts with a man waiting for the furniture to arrive at his new house.  While he's on the phone with his worrying wife, the police have a shoot out with the kidnapper next door.  Everyone in the shoot out is killed.  The man goes to investigate only to confront what seems to be his childhood tormentor.

This is an introduction issue, so Robert doesn't give us too much right out of the gate. He blows us away with a violent spray of bullets and blood, then spins us around and says, “You know what? It's all gone!”  He makes us shake our heads at what we think we saw, filling us with dread and excitement.  Robert's writing is gritty and realistic.  His art, visually uncomfortable.  Crawl To Me succeeds in making you feel the main character's anxiety right in the pit of your stomach.
I do really like the visual style here.  Robert draws simple sketches of characters and covers them with gritty complex art.  Don't get me wrong.  There's nothing plain or boring about this book.  The art is actually one of the elements that builds anxiety in the reader, almost like the feeling you get when watching 1970's splatter films.  Crawl To Me's pages are spattered with blood stains and licked with fiery reds and oranges that bring the story to life.  Honestly, I can't wait to read #2.
So pick up Crawl To Me from IDW. Artist, writer, and Life of Agony bassist, Alan Robert has got what it takes to be one of this decades hottest horror writers.