Tommy #1
Written by John Ulloa and Al Bondiga
Art and Cover by Juan Navarro
Published by Creature Entertainment
Tommy van Hutton is your typical pre-teen loner. He spends time alone reading comic books and is ignored by everyone, even his own parents. Except for one little thing: Jack, Tommy’s pet rabbit, is a Serial killer. Jack wants to make Tommy a man, and he will do whatever it takes even if it means killing a few people. Can Tommy control Jack’s homicidal rage? More importantly, is Jack behind the murders…or is it really Tommy?
Looking at the cover, it’s not obvious Tommy is a horror comic. Usually, horror comics display violent, eerie imagery. When one looks at the covers of EC’s classic Tales From the Crypt, it’s clear what nightmares wait within their pages. The abstract cover of Tommy, on the other hand, indicates nothing. This could easily be an action comic given the dynamism of the blood splatter. Fortunately, there is this image on the back for clarification:
Even so, in comics, where presentation is everything, it is best to make it obvious what kind of book you’re selling on the front cover.
The art of Tommy is some of the best work in modern horror comics. On one hand, the art is Looney Tunes-esque with exaggerated facial expressions and surreal body types. Contradicting this cartoonish side of the art is the heavy use of black ink and detailed penciling. They give the art a grittier look similar to the work of Jhonen Vasquez. The result is a cartoon world subverted by the darkness hidden beneath and populated with grotesque characters. King of all the grotesquerie is Jack the Rabbit. He has two forms: his normal, cute form when the adults are around, and his brutish humanoid form when alone with Tommy. If Bugs Bunny got wasted and went into a biker bar, he would come out looking like Jack.
The art truly shines in the suspenseful moments:
These pages spark with horror, panels focusing on Jack’s sadistic glee and Tommy’s terror. One is always on the edge while reading Tommy, dreading the next form of torture Jack has planned.
The art isn’t perfect, though. While Tommy does a good job of creating suspense by doing close-ups of the characters, the environments are bland. There are two settings: Tommy’s home and school. These areas are mostly non-existent black-and-white spaces. Horror is about grotesque monsters, but it is also about the eerie forbidden places they live in. What would Dracula be without his castle? Jason Voorhees without Crystal Lake? Having a world that is just as creepy looking as the characters would have made Tommy scarier.
Another flaw readers might find is that given the cartoonish style of Tommy, the characters aren’t always drawn consistently. The most noticeable is Tommy who looks sometimes like a boy, sometimes like a man or somewhere in-between. It can be confusing when the reader is supposed to believe Tommy is a kid.
However, given the context of the story, Tommy’s age-flux could be seen as symbolic of his situation. The narrative is focused on Tommy’s life and doesn’t take long to show that his life sucks. At home, Tommy is alone with his drunken, abusive mother. At school, Tommy has no friends, is constantly bullied, and the principal calls him a freak. The only person who cares is Jack. Interestingly, Jack thinks he is helping Tommy. In his mind, Tommy is too much of a weak little kid and needs to be toughened up — is way of doing this is by chasing Tommy around the house while threatening him with chainsaws, axes, and tubes of IcyHot (don’t ask). The only positive figures in Tommy’s life are Mr. Cuddles, his teddy bear, and Miss Allen, an idyllic teacher from school. They try to give Tommy comfort and encourage him to maintain a positive attitude, but their kind words are outweighed by the constant torment Tommy endures. Eventually, he starts succumbing to Jack’s advice and starts using him to act out violent revenge fantasies. Which raises the question: is Jack real or a figment of Tommy’s imagination as he turns into a brutal killer? In this sense, the art shows us Tommy’s personal battle of trying to retain his innocence and avoid turning into a monster.
Overall, Tommy is a satisfying read that falls just short of excellence. The basic horror narrative is amplified by terrifying, surreal artwork that lends to deeper symbolic meaning in the growth of Tommy’s character. Hopefully, the series will continue to get better with each new issue.
Visit the official website of Creature Entertainment.
Visit Juan Navarro’s website.
Ben Howard