One of the best things that ever happened to the Universal monsters was that they passed into public domain. Now Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster, amongst many others, can be seen not just in older, classic stories but in new stories written by writers who grew up with these creatures and want to do right by them. The Black Forest, written by a pair of screenwriters and illustrated by comics vet Neil Vokes, reads like something that is sort of a backdoor pitch for a Hollywood movie, and has some similarities to the upcoming blockbuster Van Helsing, but while Hollywood might be the eventual destiny for this project, right now it belongs to the field of comics, and comics fans are lucky for that. Set in World War I and featuring an American daredevil and British occultist facing off against an army of evil monsters, The Black Forest is best described as a ripping yarn, mixing pulp adventure and spooky horror in equal measure.
The last project that I saw Neil Vokes on was the very dark superhero/horror project Parliament of Justice, and I have to say that this darker milieu seems to fit him. The dogfight sequences earlier on in this book aren't as clear as I would like, but most of the book is quite a sight to behold, moody and dark and exciting all at once. I particularly enjoy his shadow-shrouded monsters, from Frankenstein's monster to the werewolves to the vampires. The ratlike countenance of Orlof gives him a lot of his personality, just as the brutish design for Frankenstein's monster indicates the easiest assumption of his personality, which makes for a good setup for a later reversal.
Vokes also does great design work for the lead characters. Archie is a distinguished older gentleman reminiscent of horror legend Vincent Price, and I loved his design for the sexy gypsy woman and the British agent inside Dye's castle as well. Dye himself is also a great design, mixing the aristocratic sensibilities of his nemesis Archie with the classic bad guy scar and mustache just made for twirling. Jack Shannon, our lead, is an odd design, a boyish character with Orphan Annie-esque eyes who seems a bit young for the accomplished daredevil persona he is given, but whose naivete and American bravado seems a perfect fit.
Livingston and Tinnell have given Vokes plenty to work with, of course, in terms of creating these characters. There's a refreshing vulnerability to these characters, not in terms of emotional characterization but in terms of "some of them can die." There are some nifty reversals of loyalty, some heroic sacrifices that feel right at home in the World War I style of story and a nice character arc between Archie and Jack Shannon that points the way for further adventures of these two, but doesn't give away whether both of them will survive the story.
As for the story itself, it's a great concept well executed. The notion of the Nazis delving into the occult is by this point a cliche, but very few creators have explored a similar notion about the German forces in World War I, and the earlier setting of that war dovetails nicely with the earlier era of the creation of these monsters. This feels like the kind of thing that could have come entirely out of silent film, but the writing style has a definitely modern twist to it. Livingston and Tinnell overload the story somewhat with characters, meaning that some interesting characters don't really get the development or full arc that they should (such as their lady gypsy, or the British undercover agent, both of whom could have used a little backstory reveal), but just about every one of their characters is an interesting one, and the plot never feels overloaded or overly complex.
The Black Forest is an easy recommendation, because it's for those who like old-time war movies, monster movies, heroic adventure or genre riffs with a touch of modern distance to them. Vokes doesn't quite match up to the exquisite work he did on Parliament of Justice, but he is still doing the best work of his career on these Image black and white graphic novels, and Livingston and Tinnell are promising new talents in the comics field.
