The first image we see in Image Comics’ Houses of the Unholy is that of a pentagram. It’s shown in a brilliant red that makes it looks like it’s been carved into the flesh of the book. It’s a fitting first image. Writer Ed Brubaker, artist Sean Phillips, and colorist Jacob Phillips — the unbeatable team behind works like Cruel Summer, Pulp, and Where the Body Was — are telling a story about wounds that won’t heal. This creative team steeps their narrative in actual history, making their themes and questions all the more poignant.
About Houses of the Unholy:
An FBI agent from the cult crime beat and a woman with a past linked to the Satanic Panic are drawn into a terrifying hunt for an insane killer hiding in the shadows of the underworld. Can you ever escape your past, or are all your bad decisions just more ghosts to haunt you, wherever you go?
Writing
Brubaker, in his newsletters, has described his fascination with the Satanic Panic of the 80’s. Houses of the Unholy, in many ways, feels like his answer to the proverbial question, “What is it you find so interesting about that time?” His answer is thorough, thought-provoking, and moving. Because, while the Satanic Panic may largely be something that’s been left in the past, we can still see its fingerprints today. And when the world seems to be falling apart, it can be hard to not feel like you’re living through “The End of Days.”
Our main character, Natalie Burns, was five years old when the Satanic Panic swept through her school. She, along with five other classmates, testified to being forced into demonic rituals by her teachers. When Brubaker reintroduces us to her, she’s thirty five years older, and she knows that her and her classmates’ testimonies — along with the demon-filled memories that plague her at night — are all fabrications, the result of an impressionable mind being caught in the middle of a strange cultural moment. Brubaker shows us her guilt about the fallout of her testimony in his usual subtle way. It’s in her tough exterior, in the nonchalant way that she relays traumatic memories, and in her reliance on pot to quiet the noise in her head.
Thanks to Natalie, this isn’t just a history lesson. Brubaker’s ability to weave in historical details is incredible, but it’s not the point. Natalie is running from her past and disillusioned by her present. She can’t trust her own memories and seems unsure of what the truth even is anymore. She’s been burned by the church, by her parents, by her school, and by a culture that wants to punish her for things she did as a child. She carries those things with her, more as open wounds than as scars. Brubaker doesn’t want us to just know about the Satanic Panic. He wants us to feel its effects, and see just how relatable Natalie’s story really is.
Art
At times, Houses of the Unholy can be deeply disturbing. We see images of women being covered in blood, as part of some sadistic ritual, but these moments are surprisingly scarce. Sean Phillips, save for a few exceptions, relegates most of the dark ritualistic imagery to the periphery. We see the shadow of a monster, cast along the walls of a tunnel. We see a cultist and a demon in the background of a panel, as figments of Natalie’s imagination. We see symbols, silhouettes, and shadows. After all, the Satanic Panic was full of uncertainty, fabrication, and confusion. Phillips’ choice to avoid bringing any of those scenes or images into center stage masterfully maintains that ambiguous atmosphere.
Those aren’t the only details Phillips chooses to obscure. One particularly tragic moment happens mostly off-panel, with only a fragment of the scene shown to let us know what’s happened. It’s enough. In fact, avoiding depicting the whole thing not only hammers in the quiet tragedy of the moment, but it speaks to Natalie’s attempt to forget it happened. On one page, however, the fragment of the scene reappears like a specter, hovering over the panel from out of nowhere. Natalie looks up at it with tired eyes. Try as she might, Phillips shows us, Natalie cannot escape her past.
Coloring
Not only is Jacob Phillips fantastic at inviting you into the atmosphere of a scene, but his bold color choices enhance the story beats brilliantly. All of the flashbacks to Natalie’s childhood are shown in shades of red and white. It’s as though the glow of Hell itself lights these pages. Or maybe it’s that Natalie can’t help but see these moments through the lens of her own blood-soaked soul. Either way, these scenes appear as garish reminders of horrible memories. And we can see just how much Natalie’s past affects her, as the same red hues creep slowly but surely into her present day.
Elsewhere, Phillips sets scenes so effectively it’s hard not to feel like you’re in the room with the characters. You can smell the dank air of a basement, colored in cold greys and blues. You can feel the cool breeze of the night air as you stand out in a parking lot, watching the sun go down in a pinkish twilight. Phillips’ colors aren’t simply a part of the things you’re reading on a page: They’re an invitation into the world of the story. They’re there to be felt, rather than read.
Lettering
Sean Phillips’ lettering in Houses of the Unholy is mostly typical of his work with Brubaker. It’s clear, ordered, and uses a lot of the same visual cues from their other works. You see the straight edged word balloons of people gruffly shouting, the small font in the middle of a large balloon of someone saying something under their breath, as well as the caption boxes with hand drawn edges. But Phillips also lets loose a little more than usual. Car crashes and sirens get big, sweeping sound effects, written with block letters that have scribbled outlines to them. And every chapter is punctuated by a flashback, which always begins with an all black panel that has a title written in white block letters. It gives the whole story the feel of a true crime series. Phillips lettering, as always, perfectly adds to the feeling and tone of the narrative.
Verdict
It’s hard not to call every new project from Brubaker, Phillips, and Phillips their best. But that’s because this creative team is constantly growing, putting out better and better material. Each new graphic novel feels more vulnerable, poignant, and layered than their last. Houses of the Unholy follows this trend perfectly. It’s not only an effectively told story, but it’s also just as ambiguous and troubling as the cultural moment from which it springs. Houses of the Unholy is out from Image Comics on August 27th at a comic shop near you. It’s sure to be another massive hit, so get your copy while you can!
