Comic Review: Beneath the Valley of the Rage #1

Beneath the Valley of the Rage #1

Created and Story by: Robert Kurtzman and John Bisson
Script by: John Bisson
Artwork by: Stephen Thompson
Coloring by: Jason Jensen
Published by: Fangoria Comics

As a horror fan, I was excited to see Fangoria Entertainment, publisher of the Fangoria horror movie magazine, enter the comics field. However, I’ll admit some reticence when seeing that their comic line was to be tied to upcoming movies. I find that comic adaptations of movies are just as risky as movie adaptations of comics. But I decided to give Fangoria a chance…

Beneath the Valley of the Rage is Fangoria’s second comic title to come out this year. It starts out with the very graphic death of Ivan, an agent infected with a gruesome virus. His wife and fellow agent then goes to interrogate the virus’s creator, Doctor Vasilienko, about the creation of this deadly virus.

Vasilienko tells about how he was determined to cure cancer and he was successful, but upon his discovery, his government arrested him and stole his cure to sell for its own profit. Vasilienko escapes the mental institution in which he’s placed, having to kill some men along the way. The KGB hunts Vasilienko to Guatemala. There he discovers a freakshow.

Robel’s Museum of Nature’s Oddities contains some of your mundane oddities. The fat lady, the piercing enthusiast, and some more vulgar freaks like a chicken fucker and a man eating live mice. The prize of the show, however, is The Misfit. Described as “more beast than man,” The Misfit confides in Vasilienko how he became such a grotesque. Vasilienko suggests he may be able to cure The Misfit, but we know that, along the way, The Misfit will be integral in the development of The Rage, the horrible virus we saw at the beginning.

Admittedly, this is not my preferred flavor of horror. I prefer slashers and monsters, so Fangoria’s Bump, their first comic title, is more my style. Biological warfare and government intrigue tend to turn me off in horror. It overcomplicates the simple terror found in the better horror stories. But there is potential. The Misfit’s claim of being transformed by a witch presents some interesting possibilities. Vasilienko is an interesting character and I’d like to know more about his past. Of course from his point of view he’s the victim of government conspiracy, but did he really cure cancer? Or was that a sign of his insanity? Was his cure itself an abomination?

So, with plenty of mystery and intrigue, the next issue awaits to reveal more of this gory tale Beneath the Valley of the Rage.

Rating: 4 Worms - Thompson's art is good and grotesque, and the story only suffers due to my preference in horror type, but provides a lot of suspense and mystery to be worth another issue.

Check out IMDB's listing of the movie, The Rage