Though he has dabbled in other genres, Steve Niles seems pretty comfortable being pigeon-holed as "the horror guy." It's easy to see why he can do so much work in the genre without getting bored, because his take on various aspects of the genre tend to be very different, and Freaks of the Heartland is about a million miles away from 30 Days of Night, despite sharing the same genre. It brings to mind classic Twilight Zone and other science-fiction tales, stories of the monstrous secrets being held in the small farm communities of America. Like those tales, it starts off somewhat slow and even normal, where the only real monstrous or horrific aspect is an abusive father, but there are enough hints at what's coming to draw the reader in, and even if there wasn't, Greg Ruth's beautiful artwork would serve as the hook while Niles lays the groundwork for his unusual horror tale.
Niles is right on the edge of cliche here, with a young boy growing up in the Midwest, narrating from the future about the things that happened and wishing to know more about the wider world around him. This is a narrative voice, and a setting, that has been used many times. However, the sense is not that Niles is unaware of the larger web of stories that Freaks of the Heartland evokes, but that he's doing it deliberately, just as he used the cliche of vampires in 30 Days of Night to turn the whole concept on its ear.
For one thing, Niles's monster isn't really the monster of the tale. For that matter, neither is the verbally abusive father, who shows a moment of concern (or maybe it's shame) for his younger son and reveals that maybe his abusive facade is a cover for disappointment in himself and what his family has become. Indeed, in this first issue, when we're introduced to "the monster," he's not only the younger of the two brothers (a clever twist that puts a neat spin on the relationship between the brothers) but has more abilities than simply large size and strength, with seemingly psychic abilities being a part of his unusual mutation as well. This is no regular "monster locked in the cellar" tale, but something else, and even though the first issue really doesn't go anywhere yet, the sense of where it's going and that it's going to be unusual is very strong.
Then there's the artwork. Steve Niles is best known for his work with Ben Templesmith, whose style compares most easily to surrealist work by Bill Sienkiewicz and Ashley Wood. Mood, not storytelling, tends to be the focus. Greg Ruth maintains the sort of spooky mood, in part thanks to the isolation of his setting, but more to the point, he brings a very realistic and lush feel to the midwestern setting of the book. It's a difficult mix to describe, but Ruth's work evokes both the normality of our young protagonist's life and the abnormality of it at the same time. Perhaps it's because small town life isn't a familiar feeling for most folks these days that makes the rural existence seem so fraught with potential horror, but I like to think it's something undefinable in Ruth's artwork that does it as well.
Freaks of the Heartland is a slow starter, but I suspect that this is to lull the reader into the pleasant, quiet smalltown life the way the characters in the book have been, and that the next issue or two will bring some shocks and surprises. If nothing else, the book has a creepy, foreboding tone and gorgeous artwork, and I'm certainly curious about what comes next.
