Silent Hill: Anne's Story #1

When it rains it pours in IDW's new Silent Hill Downpour based comic.

Writing: Tom Waltz
Art: Tristan Jones
Publisher: IDW

(Fair Warning: I'm a huge, massive, over-the-top Silent Hill fan and this review without a doubt reflects that)

Expanded universes are a tricky thing. How do you successfully tell your own story inside of a universe that already exists? How do you do it without stepping on toes? How do you keep track of continuity? Does it even matter when things happen like what happened with Star Wars essentially making the entire expanded universe non-existent? Yes, it does matter and, doing it right looks a lot like this Silent Hill comic from IDW team Waltz and Jones despite the fact that they're working off a game that got lukewarm reviews. 

The premise is simple: Tell the story of what really happened to officer Anne Cunningham during the events of Konami's Silent Hill Downpour game as players were off fighting Murphy Pendelton's demons.

The result is exquisite: This comic is everything Silent Hill should be and it reads like a love letter to fans that know that. The art: oppresive, sketchy and gross. Silent Hill should be and is all of those things. The writing: coarse, rough and frantic. Silent Hill is all of those things, too.

Waltz writes a good Anne Cunningham and, this first issue does a good job of getting us inside the mind of the officer right before it is certain to unravel. Here, we see what Silent Hill is all about across all of its games, comics and even movies: struggle, horror, damage. pain. Anne's journey is just starting out but, she has much deeper to go as she will soon find out but for now, Waltz has done a good job of introducing us to someone on the precipice.

Jones' art is a dark and disgusting revelation. His work here, sketchy and loose, is Silent Hill in comics personified. The monsters are terrifying, Anne's horror is perfectly encapsuled in her expressions and the world she's about to enter is wonderfully dark and gruesome. Little references to both this comic's source game and other Silent Hill games are sprinkled in to a great effect too. Keep your eye out for the Halo of the Sun, fellow SH fans, because Jones clearly understands the world he's responsible for detailing across these pages.

Ultimatley, this book is a good return to the Silent Hill world which is getting a new installment helmed by Kojima and Del Toro soon and it's an exquisite return to the Downpour story. It's worth noting, however, that you need to know that game (Downpour) and this world before you read this comic. This book is for the fans without a doubt. Is there anything wrong with that? No, not at all, but, its effectiveness and point may be lost on those unaquainted with the source material because it dives head in. 
 

If you think you can handle it, peer into the heart of Silent Hill as it's contained in this issue, you won't be dissapointed.