Gideon Falls Vol. 2: Original Sins
Jeff Lemire, writer; Andrea Sorrentino, artist; Dave Stewart, colors
Image Comics, 2019
The spookiness continues in the second installment, as several disparate plot elements slowly come together. The opening scene shows a little boy escaping from the black barn, as someone (or something) says he should "Be what you were born to be. Become my doorway." He suddenly appears in an empty field in town, and thinks his name is Norton Sinclair. That's the name of the mental patient who has been trying to rebuild the barn, which is where the story picks up. Meanwhile, the sheriff finds her memories of the barn incident are fading. But she remembers a childhood ride to school on the bus: and their driver was Joe Reddy, the man who threatened her with a gun in the previous volume.
Things appear to be connected in mysterious ways. A doctor and orderlies from the hospital kidnap Norton and restrain and drug him--hard to see how that could possibly be legal--but the experience causes him to reconnect with a childhood memory in the basement of the orphanage. He sees a mysterious entity with glowing red eyes and a huge over-sized toothy smile, who is starting to look familiar. Father Fred finds himself transported to an earlier time in the middle of a sermon. Armed men burst into the church, announcing that the serial killer has been identified as Norton Sinclair.
The climax finds our Norton and Father Fred entering the black barn from different directions, using the original location of the Sinclair farm (now the town dump). There they both meet a man who tells them he is the real Norton Sinclair. After a mind-bending sequence showing multiple worlds--evidently the barn is even more of a gateway than anyone thought--both travelers are deposited back in Gideon Falls. The former Norton is met by his sister, and remembers that he is her brother Danny. Father Fred is met by Angie: she does not know him, and he has forgotten his identity.
Still hard to see where this series is going. But it's still a great ride.
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