I had no idea these comics existed until I started to read this year's Frankenstein story. I just finished up some of the review from that one, reading up on the latest volumes and taking a break. To which at the bottom of the volume was Creature From The Black Lagoon advertised. It pulled in my curiosity as it seemed relatively short: just five volumes, having been released earlier in the year and already finished. It gave me yet another fun thing to read up on going into October. So with nothing else to read at the moment without taking a larger dive into something a bit more lengthy, I jumped into the comic with no idea as to what expect. And it wasn't that bad at all. A few things here and there I couldn't find all that enjoyable, primarily the art style to which I didn't find as engaging as it could've been for the creature it was following within its story. Though the story itself was engaging. Panels upon panels of dialogue and theories, lots of character interactions that had the story progressing from one place to another. And it was done in a way that felt quite unique and certainly more similar to the world of television and film. Now what do I mean by this, exactly? Well, it starts off with a more detective structure.
Starting off with a journalist heading over to South America in pursuit of a killer that has been leading to the drownings of numerous people. An American suspect is at the forefront of it all due to his past in the United States. Leading to him being the primary suspect of the killings, and with our protagonist Kate having a history of almost drowning at the hands of a killer. It sets up a more personal tale of trauma for our protagonist as she hunts down something that ultimately revives a dark period within her past. The fear of water, the fear of trust in people. The fear of touch. It's an interesting addition to the story that makes our protagonist stand out a bit more rather than becoming a simple plot point to keep things in motion. Instead, there's more realism to the story, and the search for the killer progresses things with a more detective oriented structure that doesn't have people immediately jumping into mythical creatures. Instead, it's trickled down and hinted, superstitions and gruesome investigations from morticians leads the assumption of a creature being responsible.
All of this takes place within just the first volume, so you can imagine how fast-paced it all feels. The motion that keeps us engaged, constantly reading and seeing the story move. Run-ins with the creature already taking place but with snippets and few details hold a more cinematic view over the story. The teasing to the viewer that doesn't reveal anything major until the characters are actually ready for it. And the second volume begins with more seriousness over the idea of a creature leading to the killings. I quite enjoyed the process here, the gradual revealing of information, the characters and their theories being discussed between each other. Not just dialogue straight to the viewer, but a more realistic series of sentences between people that leads us into more depth. No pun intended there regarding the whole story.
One thing that I didn't really enjoy though was the art style. Sometimes it didn't bother me all that much and the story took the reigns and kept me immersed and wanting to find out the rest. But at times the art just felt a bit jarring. Perhaps too scribbled and rushed. Sometimes comic art can be this way, where it feels almost stiff but a little cheap too. This is when there are tighter deadlines and smaller budgets, and I can see that the budget wouldn't be the best for a comic like this where the audience is certainly rather niche. There were times where I really felt like I couldn't go on and that the style was too distracting. Moments of action where anatomy feels off or just scribbled in real quick to give a quick illusion of it. Detail is sometimes missing where it feels there should be more. Even in the creature itself which is pulling itself out from the depths, it often looks dry and void of that detail that would give a creature of its nature a bit more fear. And I think that's a really important aspect of comics when it comes to the mixture of good writing and storytelling. If the writing is good but the art doesn't reflect the atmosphere, then that atmosphere just falls flat. And that's unfortunately what kept happening.
In such moments I just took a break from it and returned when I felt like I was ready to put up with it a little more, breaking from that area of the poorer quality art and getting back into the story. Fortunately it is only a few volumes which are easy to get through. So it didn't feel like I was wasting my time, nor was I then disliking the story. I think there should've been a stronger impact with the art where the writing had built up more tension in preparation of certain events. Unfortunately it just didn't capture it. So it's hard to say whether this is a worthy read for this upcoming Halloween. Perhaps give something else your time and attention.