As I ended my review of this Devil’s Due series’ first issue (see it here), I was optimistic and hopeful that writer Stefan Hutchinson could progress the comic miniseries’ story and quality. I was right to look ahead in a positive manner, as issue #2 of THE FIRST DEATH OF LAURIE STRODE definitely picks up and provides some actual chills.
Appropriately subtitled DEMONS TORMENTING ME, the story further develops Laurie’s self-destructive descent and Michael’s looming re-emergence. At the very end of issue #1, Laurie ended up in the arms of Dr. Loomis, and that’s exactly where we pick up. The doctor is actually buying a house in Haddonfield—which Sheriff Brackett does not like one bit—and trying to protect Laurie, since they are the only two who believe Michael is still out there. We then jump ahead to the end of the school year: Laurie is lost in booze, even at graduation, and Loomis doubts he can do anything to truly prevent Michael from finding his sister. This all leads to a costume party celebrating graduation, and a full-fledged Michael comeback which wonderfully captures how creepy and evil Michael can be, and is nothing short of excellent.One of Hutchinson’s key strengths in THE FIRST DEATH OF LAURIE STRODE is his treatment of Laurie herself. She’s one of horror’s most cherished “final girls,” and it’s saddening to see the path Laurie takes—but not unbelievable, as she has been through some damaging experiences. By writing Laurie with a certain depth and care, Hutchinson provides what so much of what modern horror lacks: a reason to care for the characters. And most of these people are worth our sympathy. Loomis is trying his hardest at what he knows is a lost cause—to save Laurie. Sheriff Brackett is consistently wrong and looking for a scapegoat, but can you blame him? Jimmy is confined to a wheelchair, and suffers from being a haunting reminder to Laurie of all her friends who were put in the ground that night. The principals and their town are just broken and so defeated that it seems especially cruel and horrifying that Michael is so unrelenting, which is what makes this successful. It’s unfair and actually scary that he keeps coming back, not giving up until his death blow is dealt.
As in the previous issue, Hutchinson and artist Jeff Zornow keep Michael’s presence hovering until his ultimate appearance, and one of the best ways they do this is in their dream imagery. DEMONS TORMENTING ME kicks off with a wonderfully creative nightmare for Laurie: She stands in the mirror, questioning herself and who she is, until she pulls at her face, ripping it off to reveal Michael’s visage. The tearing starts at the eyes, and as she pulls off the skin, they go with it, revealing Michael’s pitch-black sockets as the soulless caverns they are. It’s an awesome way to re-insert us back into the story and to set up the overall theme that Michael is everywhere: both inside Laurie, as family and a menacing force driving her mad, and outside, lurking, waiting to strike.
Again, we’re treated to a look inside Judith Myers’ diary, giving us a peek at young Michael and the signs of his impending evil nature. What’s so satisfying about these flashbacks is that they provide only examples of Michael’s growing instability, not explanations. There don’t seem to be any overwhelming forces influencing Michael’s behavior, which helps to keep the mystery that some are just inherently evil, for no reason.
One of my main issues with this series has been the art: While the illustrations themselves aren’t bad, in my eyes they don’t fit. This hasn’t changed, so instead I chose to look at it in the sense of “agree to disagree.” This is Zornow’s interpretation, and I can respect and accept his vision and sit back and enjoy the book. The other prominent problem was the dryness of some of Hutchinson’s writing. While this has definitely improved, it isn’t all gone. Loomis does a lot of thinking out loud in this issue about Michael and why he’s doing what he does. He offers up an interesting theory, and is careful to keep it full of “maybes” so as not to have it define this version of the masked villain. There’s a bit of repetition, though, and one of the moments he explains himself could have been cut.
The last third is where DEMONS TORMENTING ME truly shines. The costume party sets the stage for Michael’s reveal, and it is one hell of an attack. Not dressed in his traditional garb, and slowly emerging from the distant background through a number of panels (acting like the Shape we know and love), this section manages to fill the reader with dread and produces a good amount of uneasiness. As Michael gets closer to Laurie, we crosscut with her friend Sally, “paying” for drugs with her body and thus exposing how she affords them, as she alluded to in the first issue. The brutal juxtaposition of a cruel fate and visibly unwanted sex is quite horrifying, creating one of the strongest moments of all the HALLOWEEN books Devil’s Due has released.
Like the previous installment this issue of FIRST DEATH comes with multiple covers. My favorite is by Peter Fielding (pictured above), evoking a sort of Gothic, tragic sensibility in his portrait of Michael’s face. Hutchinson has most definitely progressed from the first issue and created a high-quality HALLOWEEN story that is definitely worth your time. The creators of THE FIRST DEATH OF LAURIE STRODE take our beloved characters seriously and want to inject the terror back into a Michael Myers tale, and I’m glad to say that overall, they do so with flying colors.
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