Plunge

/ Alex Good

Plunge

The back cover calls this a “surreal and gory celebration of ‘80s horror” but while I was picking up clear vibes of Deep Star Six and Leviathan (not to mention the more recent Underwater) the supplementary interviews with writer Joe Hill included in this edition make clear the story was mainly meant as an homage to John Carpenter’s The Thing crossbred with H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos.

There’s maybe too much going on here (a Walkman that reads minds?) and there’s a bit of a sense that the story was getting away from Hill at the end, but overall it’s pretty darn solid. Even stock characters like the treacherous corporate flunky (a stand-by in the films of the period) worked well. But I especially liked the fraternal relationships and how they played out. It’s a little thing, but an effective twist on the clichéd business of having the sexy marine biologist turn out to be a romantic interest. I was glad that didn’t happen (again). Also good was the way the alien worms scaled: they’re threatening at both the micro and the macro level. Finally, the art by Stuart Immomen gives us an authentic ‘80s horror vibe of practical gore effects but with its own dark and distinctive look. A comic that’s hard to find fault with then, and one that didn’t disappoint on any level. First-rate stuff.

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