Blood Between the Panels: Groom Lake
Groom Lake #1 & 2
IDW Publishing
Written by Chris Ryall
Art by Ben Templesmith
Reviewed by: Bryce Holland
As horror fans, I think we often forget that, sometimes, there’s more to life than monsters, psychotic killers, and loads of blood and guts. Sometimes, it’s important to be able to sit back and have a good laugh. Of course, it does help if those laughs can come with a little gore, or even some some good old-fashioned alien abductions, and Groom Lake offers a great blend of both.
Groom Lake tells the story of one Karl Bauer, a 20 year-old man-child living in rural New Hampshire. He is one day visited at his home by the mysterious Agent Leticia Pope and two of her nameless lackeys. They inform Karl that his father, who he believed abandoned him, was recently abducted, and experimented on, by some visitors from other planets, and because of some unforeseen complications he doesn’t have long to live. They offer to take Karl to his estranged father, and quickly shepherd him off to a top-secret underground research facility at the titular lake in the Nevada desert. Once there, Karl learns the truth about alien abductions and becomes friends with a particularly genial alien named Archibald. After some much needed explanations, Karl comes face to face with a monstrous tentacled anomaly that was apparently once his father. Their reunion is short lived however, because after gargling a few words to Karl, the creature that was once a man proceeds to violently explode. After being thoroughly sanitized by scientists at the facility, Karl comes face to face with the myriad alien life forms housed there, and is informed that the real reason he was brought to Groom Lake was because of a unique anomaly in his genetic code that might just be the missing ingredient in a weapon being developed by an all new, E.T. occupied “Manhattan Project.” Karl soon realizes the implications of what the “Project” wants to use him for and decides to make an escape with Archibald.
Sound like a lot of info? Well, believe me: it is. The four issue miniseries is only halfway done, and already writer Chris Ryall has packed a lot of plot into this seemingly small story. But that’s what makes it so appealing. A lot of really short miniseries’, like this one, are over before they have a chance to really give the reader anything memorable. At the very best you might get a notable moment in the final issue. Luckily, Ryall’s writing is pretty tight and irreverent, and he’s already packed quite a few great revisionist revelations (like the aforementioned real reason and circumstances surrounding alien abductions, and the truth behind some of cinema’s most recognizable extraterrestrials) and truly memorable images (check out issue #1 to see what Karl’s father gets “transplanted” below his belt). The writing is certainly not the best blend of humor and horror ever put on the page, but Ryall has a more than decent handling on pacing and dialogue, and the story never lags.
Of course, the real treat with this book for any horror fan is the fantastic art work by the incomparable Ben Templesmith. Any fright fan worth his salt has heard of or seen his work on such horror comic classics as the early Criminal Macabre series’ and the now legendary 30 Days of Night. Lately, he’s been busy writing and drawing his own pet projects (like the awesome werewolf/prison thriller Welcome to Hoxford, and the severely underrated Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse), but he was able to find some time to lend his deft pencils to this book. Like the other series he’s done, Templesmith is able to use his mixed media style art to full effect here. All of his pencil work is pretty similar, yet somehow he is able to adapt it perfectly to suit whatever kind of projecting he is drawing. Groom Lake is no exception, featuring some truly original, gross, and truly funny images.
While this is a book that is pretty light on conventional scares, it’s a breath of fresh air as far as horror comics go. In fact, it’s not really apt to even call this a horror comic. It’s more like a horror/comedy/sci-fi comic. It reads like one of the funnier episodes of “The X-Files,” and offers a pretty unique spin on an abduction story. If you’re a fan of mash-ups of subversive humor and horror like you find in films like Shaun of the Dead or Evil Dead II, check this one out.
