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8½ GHOSTS
by Rich Tommaso
($3.95,
Alternative Comics)
Review by Mike Hunter
This oversized (8.5" x 11"), elegantly produced comic tells the story of a movie director's struggles to make a low-budget horror flick. (The title's a nod to Fellini's
8½, about another director's travails in filmmaking.) Driving in the country, Paul Massina runs across an atmospheric old house, which turns out to be the residence of the revenants of a family who'd "accidentally gassed themselves to death." Massina gets a cost-cutting brainstorm: he can save a bundle on sets and special effects, the ghosts being persuaded to make themselves visible "on camera" only, emoting beside the unsuspecting actors, to whom they're invisible.
A nervous producer is convinced, and the cast and tech crew show up at the house. Things rapidly begin to fall apart, the deterioration accelerated by the arrival of three poltergeists, who bully the mild-mannered family ghosts and attack the filmmakers.
There's a few problems with the storyline, which some feedback before the book was a
fait accompli might have helped with. If this is a
horror movie, why does Massina think that ghosts who look about as threatening as the Pillsbury Doughboy on the Atkins diet will scare people? Russ Ebert, the screenwriter, shows up (most are
persona non grata on film sets, their presence considered unnecessary at best) and Massina gripes, "That's all I need...a goddamn
writer in the house!" Yet later, when the scripter is tossed out a window and flees, the director moans, as if his presence had been essential (indeed, he was even supplied with "female company"), "There goes Ebert...looks like this whole film is finished!" (Ebert could easily have been instead one of those "Associate Producers" who merely provide funding, and hence must be coddled as a necessary evil.) And we have a rather odd
deus ex machina brought in by the family ghosts to get rid of the poltergeists: not just a vampire (and who ever heard of vampires having the power to beat up poltergeists?), but a giant vampire! Who's a member of the deceased family, and apparently grew to about 15 feet high (his size varies considerably) before being "bitten." True, the story's something of a humorous fantasy, but just as in science fiction, the rule is not to throw elements into the mix pell mell, but to minimize the eyebrow-raising stuff as much as possible, leaving only the essential, and maintain a logic and consistency to the proceedings. The better to ease the readers' "suspension of disbelief," encourage them to take the situation in stride, and be concerned over - or laugh about - the plight of the protagonists without being otherwise distracted.
On the plus side, Tommaso's art is skilled and lively, the color covers (the inside ones are full-color as well) particularly fine, boasting eye-catchingly original graphic design. His dialogue is snappy, the narration (a "voice over" by Massina) low-key in contrast to the frantic goings-on, with a nicely turned phrase ("Time is like an infinite sick day for me now...") here and there. Researching his past work, I was surprised to find Tommaso'd earlier done
The Horror of Collier County, a comics series I'd been much taken with (now available as a trade paperback from Dark Horse), a witty, underrated delight, peopled with richly rendered, non cliché characters.
But, even not taking into account the excellent example of
The Horror of Collier County, there is much in
8½ Ghosts to mark Rich Tommaso as a talent worth watching. And those who can glide by the plot potholes would find it an amusing romp. I'm looking forward to his next comic,
Perverso, which boasts an even more strikingly imaginative cover...
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