Silent Hill Downpour: Anne's Story #1 - Comic Review

From Left To Right: Standard cover & Variant cover.

The wait is finally over!

Just over two years after Silent Hill: Downpour was released and a couple of cancellations, we finally get read and find out what Anne Cunningham's journey was like into Silent Hill and how it parallels with the the protagonist of the game- Murphy Pendleton.

As this is a review of the comic, I will be talking about the plot of the comic and the game.

So expect SPOILERS ahead!

In the above image you can see both variants versions of the comics cover, I wanted them both because I just Love Downpour that much! That and the cover art is great!

 

 I'm especially excited about this comic as Silent Hill: Downpour is my joint favourite Silent Hill game next Silent Hill 2. I'm also happy to read about what the Anne did and what she saw in Silent Hill along side Murphy. I'm also hoping to see what happened to the side characters, and to also see if the comic answers some of the plot holes; such how did Anne survive falling down a seemingly bottomless chasm and suddenly appears in the Devil's Pit to confront Murphy and how did she hide on the boat Murphy was to escape Silent Hill on when there was no hiding places.

So with these mysteries and hopefully many more, lets take a trip with Anne into Silent Hill....

The Narrative, Characters And Art

Its hard to talk about the plot of this issue because it requires you to at least have completed the game once to understand whats going on and to understand the major plot points as they occur in the comic. If I tried to explain and summarise it all, it would make this post into a mini essay. I'll try my best to give you the major facts.

 

What you really need to know is that Anne is a prison corrections officer who hold a strong grudge and resentment towards Murphy, who is convict being transfer to her prison of Wayside Maximum Security, it seems when ever she sees Murphy he is scarred gasmask wearing figure (this will be best explained in future issues.)

Issue 1 pretty much parallels the first couple of the hours of the game, from the initial bus crash in the woods of Silent Hill to Anne confronting Murphy when he gets off the Devil's Pit train ride. 

The narrative is shown from Anne's perspective, with lots of jumping back and forth and with exposition in between.

 

As a big fan of the game I am overjoyed to be reading this story and love the comic, but it ideally it requires you have played to game to understand it. The comic itself does have a page that summarises the opening of the game and shows how the prison transfer bus crashes of the road and into the woods of Silent Hill, but a casual reader will most likely get lost to get what the hell is going on!

But for those who have played the game and love Downpour as much as me, its real treat and a welcome return to Silent Hill and the Downpour story.

The issue thankfully answers how Anne got out escaped the chasm to confront Murphy in the Devil's Pit cave. Its resolution and how it would work will make sense to fans who have a good understanding of how the town Silent Hill works, but to an average it will require them to suspend their disbelief.

And i'm really happy to see the character of J.P.Slater the Devil's Pit train operator (who appears briefly early on in the game) make an appearance and get a glimpse of how he sees Silent Hill. As the story progresses we should see more of how Anne sees Silent Hill, and how it seems to know things about her.

We also get to see more of Anne as a character in the comic than we did in the game.
She is shown to be aggressive and act like a "bitch" to people around her. We also get to see her in two flashbacks that help flesh her development and motivations better.

We see 8 year old Anne talking to here farther Frank Coleridge before he goes of to work and how Frank wants her to be a doctor, despite Anne wanting to become like here farther, and become a corrections officers when she grows up.

And we also get what can assume to be current age Anne being woken up by here husband and being told the news that  during a riot at her farther's prison, and has found beaten to near death in the prison showers... and with Murphy Pendleton being caught red handed as the accused perpetrator... (More on this in the future)

Now, i'm no expert on art in comic books, but I feel the artists has done a good job so far.
the style fits silent Hill and really capturing the feel and tone of the game. The way the settings and lighting are drawn and coloured creates an immersive atmosphere and make you feel that you are right there with Anne. So far we have seen the 'Weeping Bat' creatures from the game; they are drawn well, giving them a distant yet threatening presence, especially as the antagonise Anne in the Devil's Pit.

My only criticism with the art is that some of that characters are drawn with weird facial expressions that look unnatural and almost look unintentionally comical.
And only problem with issue is that it ends just as it gets going, we only see a bit of the characters how Silent Hill is affecting and appearing to them. This can be put down to it being the first issue setting up the story, and hope that the future issues won't be quite like this. Particularly because it really grabbed my attention and makes me excited for when Anne actually gets into the town of Silent Hill.

 

Closing Thoughts And Feeling

An intriguing yet short return to Silent Hill.

Its great to see some characters get fleshed out more and see Silent Hill from their perspective,

especially getting see Anne's take on Silent Hill: Downpour story.

Some wonderfully creative and disturbing imagery combined with well drawn settings and lighting.

I can't wait for issue 2, and eagerly await for it to come out next month!

Here's my final verdict:

 

Rating: A solid 8/10 (Or '8 Thumbs Up' - That ones for you Daniel!)

Would I read it again?: Definately!

Would you recomend it?: Yes, but mainly to fans of Silent Hill and Downpour.

 

I appreciate any feedback from you readers on this review.

Especially because its the first time I have done something like this and would love hear how I can improve it.   

 

 

Survival Horror Fever! - Survival Horror 101

With the release of Silent Hill: Downpour 'Anne's Story' and the The Evil Within tie-in comics coming up and the addition of news of upcoming releases of some high profile horror video games; I thought it would be good to do a post on horror video games, more specifically 'survival horror' and the upcoming game 'The Evil Within' that has sparked a bit resurgence of survival horror games in the mainstream gaming world. 

 

So to get all you non-savvy gamers up to date, here is Survival Horror 101.

 

'Survival horror' is the most prominent sub-genre of the overall genre of horror video games.

The 1996 Playstation 1 game 'Resident Evil' created by Shinji Mikami, is credited as the 'first survival horror' game which created many of the game play and game design features that then would go on to be the staples of any survival horror video game.

In its most basic explanation, survival horror put the player in the role of a character who find them in an environment in which that must face all manner of horrors and terrors with a limited supply of items, e.g. the player may find a gun but only find a small of ammunition, they may also rarely find health kits to heal the character. Also you often had limited inventory space, so you can to be wise about what items you wanted to pickup.

 

This lack of items forces player to think carefully about how they want to use their supplies, this also creates unnerving tensions in the game for players as survival horror games love to punish careless players who think they can blast through an area.

Inventive puzzles are another staple feature of survival horror games, usually making up the bulk of the gameplay. The puzzle were rarely easy, often requiring a lot of backtracking and a lot of thinking.
Puzzle were notoriously difficult and convoluted, with the answer sometimes going completely against standard logic.

Atmosphere is key to a survival horror game, usually mixing in bizarre imagery and symbolism, eerie sound design that can create fear and dread in players, creative lighting and well designed areas that push player to feel uncomfortable about going into the next room or around the next corridor.
Traditional survival horror games would use fixed camera angles and draw distances along with limited location to save your game to create panic and fear in the player.
But survival horror also like to reward players who like to explore the crafted environments, leading to games with detailed and explorable areas that allows players in investigate find items and hidden secrets.

Another feature of survival horror was that gun-play and weapons was usually downplayed. This meant that although could defeat enemies, it wasn't all ways the best option as you get end up wasting precious bullets that you may need later. So you could run away or past an enemies to conserve on ammo and health.

One of the big draws-ins of survival horror (at least for me) is the intriguing and suspenseful narratives; survival horror games tend more story heavy than most games, with it usually being the focus of the game. Also, despite the well written narratives, occasionally you get some great unintentionally hilarious and extremely quotable dialogue, such as Eddie's "Lets Party!" quote from Silent Hill 2 and this little exchange in the video below.

Eventually survival horror games hit their peak around 2004. Many mainstream gamers began to get
players became tired and impatient with the out-dated features of survival horror games, such limited resources, cumbersome controls and fixed camera angles. Survival horror started to phase out and become 'Action Horror', forcing survival horror into the indie gaming circle.

For more the decline and revival of survival horror, be sure to see my post on the upcoming survival horror game "The Evil Within".

Thoseof you out there interested in playing some survival horror games here is some of my picks:

The 'Silent Hill' series: especially Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill: Downpour.
Both games are personal favourites and both deal with very adult themes and tackle psychological horror in very creative ways.
The Silent Hill series arguably has the best and most thought provoking narratives in the survival horror genres, with fans still debating today over the various themes and symbolism featured in the games.

Alan Wake:
While you could argue its more thriller than horror, 'Alan Wake' is one of the best example of modern survival horror games. Mixing action with the the core features of survival horror (limited supplies, creeping atmosphere) and an interesting storyline and ending that left many casual gamer scratching their heads.

Dead Space: mainly 1 and 2
A game I affectionately call 'Event Horizon: The Video Game' due some similarity to the film.
Its another recent game that shows that survival horror can still stand in mainstream gaming.
Playing as space engineer Isaac Clarke, you have to escape a mining space craft infested hideous undead creatures that can only be defeated via dismemberment. Throw in interesting story line and an eerie foreboding atmosphere, and you have a classic horror game.

Deadly Premonition:
Despite being released in 2010, this game feature outrageously outdated controls, incredibly bad graphics and gamplay features you would expect to find in 90's survival horror game. But despite this, its a brilliant Twin Peaks inspired game. With quotable bad B-movie dialogue, memorable cast of characters and story that requires to really requires you suspend your disbelief. Its an entreating game that doesn't take itself seriously.

The 'Resident Evil' series: Games 1-4 (or 1996-2004) and Resident Evil Revelations.
The 'original' survival horror series, its worth playing Resident Evil 1 to see how survival horror started. The series is also the the main reason why zombies are so popular in gaming today.

Hellblazer: Quest to #300 - Complete 300 Celebration!

As the above video clearly states... LETS PARTY! 

 

There is perhaps only one reader that will get the joke and the video, but hey, it's message still stands.

So here we are... a complete collection of groundbreaking and beloved comic series; a series of which I can now proudly say I am glad to own. I bought the final two issues (#182 and #183) from local comic shop as a of gesture support and thanks for the brilliant service they have.

 

Spanning all the way from 1988 to 2013, from its high and lows and with a variety of artist and writers along the way, John Constantine: Hellblazer has been through it all.

 

To house this monumental collection, the comics themselves have managed to take up two and half small comic boxes. The remaining half of the third box will be filled will any Hellblazer related comics I collect; such as Hellblazer 'specials', issues were Constantine has any major appearance and the DC comics New 52 series 'Constatine'.

 

For me, I am extremely happy to finally have a complete collection of the original series and to have the chance to read from beginning to end unitterupted and to able to see the long reaching arc of John Constantine's development as a character and the many changes in the context and times the series was written.

 

So what happens now that I have got the complete collection the John Constantine; Hellblazer series?

Well there is the various 'specials' and 'spin-offs' and 'te-in' comics I will slowly collect to add to the collection.

I am planning to do a retrospective of Jamie Delano's (the first writer on the Hellblazer series) run on the series, as I have nearly read up to #40 were he then leaves the series. From the there I will do retrospective of each writer when their run ends on the series. In between these I will do special reviews of any individual issue or storyline I feel need special attention or if it offers anything special or interesting to talk about. 

 

So keep an eye for these and some up coming posts that just about comic and Hellblazer.

So y'all come back now ya hear!