THE BOOK
UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON LIVES #1 (OF 4)
Story: Dan Watters, Ram V. | Art: Matthew Roberts, Dave Stewart | Covers: Matthew Roberts, Joshua Middleton, DANI, Joëlle Jones, Alex Ross
Image/Skybound, $4.99
Miniseries premiere
A new horror dream team resurrects one of the most iconic monsters. Acclaimed creators Dan Watters (Home Sick Pilots, Lucifer), RAM V (The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Batman: Detective Comics), and Matthew Roberts (Manifest Destiny) rise from the depths for an all-new epic.
Years after the events of the original film, journalist Kate Marsden hunts for a notorious serial killer in the heart of the Amazon. Hot on the trail of this madman, she soon encounters an unexpected new threat — but is it friend or foe? Or is it simply ... THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON?
THE REVIEW
I have seen the Creature, and it is good.
But he is not the focus of the first issue. Instead, our protagonist is Kate Marsden, an American journalist of some sort in Peru tracking down a serial killer named Darwin Collier. Marsden has flashbacks to almost being drowned by hands presumably belonging to Collier, whose M.O. is drowning his victims. A flashback shows her editor wants her off the story after Collier almost kills her, and won't send her to Peru, but she ends up there anyway. And yes, there are drownings in this Peru village, and Collier has been caught on camera there. Kate's on the chase, but presumably Collier knows what she looks like, and he is not a nice man. Prey could become predator with one glance.
Kate is a new character. I had thought at first that she was the Gill-Man's objet d'amor from the first movie, making a welcome turn from passive damsel in distress to a character with agency. Research proved otherwise. The Gill-Man was infatuated with icthyologist Kay Lawrence (Julia Adams) in Creature from the Black Lagoon, icthyologist student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson) in Revenge of the Creature and scientist's wife Marcia Barton (Leigh Snowden) in The Creature Walks Among Us. Kay could turn out to be Kate, I suppose, but there's no indication she remembers the Gill-Man — she dismisses local talk of a "creature" — and the distance between icthyologist and reporter is long (and, speaking as a newspaperman, all downhill).
Further, Kate is a mess. Her near-death experience leaves her with nightmares of drowning. She compensates by using amphetamines to avoid sleep, which are easier to get from a sympathetic Peruvian pharmacist than they are at my local CVS. But Collier has been at the pharmacy, too, buying large quantities of medical supplies. He's also, possibly, stealing bodies. Or is it someone else? It's too much to hope that it's a Frankenstein (in the first miniseries, anyway), but it is a cool mystery.
And Kate is bulldogging that mystery (with a pistol on her hip). Through her, so are we.
All of this is brought to life by Matthew Roberts, who not only draws an excellent Gill-Man, but is also good with people. He isn't the sort of artist who has a Stock Male Character and a Stock Female Character who are distinguished by clothes and hair color. All of his people are distinct, even in crowd scenes, and his Kate Marsden is recognizable from any angle. This brings a verisimilitude where even the Gill-Man seems a natural part of the environment. In some fantasy books you want to skip ahead to the monster, because it will be the coolest visual. And, yes, the Creature does look cool. But Roberts makes even everyday scenes worth a lingering look.
Don't take my word for it. Here's a preview, plus some variant covers (including Joëlle Jones AND Alex Ross):
THE VARIANTS
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THE PREVIEW
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