Lot 13 Review

Lot 13

writer- Steve Niles

artist- Glenn Fabry

Writer Steve Niles has been called a Master of Modern Horror. It's also been said that he's single handedly responsible for bringing the horror comic back into prominence. From the 80's Fly In My Eye to adaptations of Clive Barker's classic tales of terror and his hit franchise 30 Days of Night, Niles isn't as responsible for bring the horror comic back as he is for making sure it never left. He's collaborated closely with some of the greatest names in the genre. Nightmare architects such as Clive Barker, Rob Zombie, Kelley Jones, Bernie Wrightson, and Ben Templesmith are just a small handful of the writers and artists he's worked with and it is very clear that he holds at least equal rank in that esteemed brotherhood of creators that go bump in the night.

One of Steve Niles' current projects is a ghost story for DC Comics called Lot 13. Lot 13 is about a young family moving into their first house. An unforeseen delay forces them to stay in a strange hotel where they experience a whole cast of spooks intent on making sure they never leave. Things look even more grim when the family discovers something else in the hotel; something even more terrifying than the ghosts. Lot 13 is designed to keep the chills running up your spine. It begins with terror and tragedy, telling you the histories of the ghosts inside the hotel. Centuries of murder and torture are all a part of the back story, so when this modern family comes in contact with the resident spooks, things have already been building up for all hell to break loose.

Niles keeps it creepy in this book. Readers have almost no time to take a breath before another ghost emerges to threaten the lives of the main characters, and that's what puts everyone on the edge of their seats. The writing style is almost cinematic in the sense that it makes us feel anxious like we're watching it all unfold in a movie theater. Setting the book down doesn't make the anxiety go away. It just causes more anxiety, forcing the readers to pick it up again looking to see what they missed.

So how does the art of Glenn Fabry match up to Steve Niles' storytelling? Perfectly. I've been enjoying Fabry's art in comics for quite a while. His amazing work for DC on such titles as Preacher, Hellblazer, and Batman/Judge Dredd as well as his incredibly gory interior art on the Marvel MAX mini-series Thor: Vikings (just to name a few) have always been beautiful and striking to me. Lot 13 is even better. Fabry creates beautiful realistic images of the story's characters then he twists and dismembers them into the hideous monsters that drive this book. And the art here seems painted, but not like anything I've seen before. The colors are quieter, more natural. It's one of the things that helps foster that realistic cinematic feeling of Niles' writing.

After Lot 13, I can officially call myself a huge Glenn Fabry fan. As I said, I've always enjoyed his work, but now I swear by it. Let's hope that this team does more work together in the future.

So hurry to your nearest comic shop and pick up this gruesome treasure. It's creepy and horrifying, and it may cause sleepless nights, but one thing is for sure... you won't be sorry you read it.