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Friday the 13th #1

By Al Kratina
January 4, 2007 - 19:02

Friday the 13th #1


Does it really take two people to write a Friday the 13th comic? Especially if the basic conceit seems to be taken directly from the set-up to the first film? After all, the movies essentially consist of a football player in a hockey mask cutting the limbs off of co-eds until all that are left are breasts and a trashy navel ring. Judging by the quality of, for example, Friday the 13^th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, these films should take maybe half a person to write, with another 2/3 of a person to make sure the camera is pointed in the right direction. But, apparently, the more the merrier applies here, because the final product is entertaining and, quite frankly, significantly better than any of the films in the series.

 
The writers have pretty much updated the first act of the original film while retaining the series' history up to the 3rd sequel. Camp Crystal Lake is being opened, again, and a bunch of horny teenagers have been hired to clean it up, again, only to be slaughtered by undead slasher Jason Voorhees, again (and, yes, I do know that it was his mother who did the killing in the first film). But still, the modernization makes the story feel a bit fresher, less encumbered by 80s sensibilities and Kevin Bacon's craggy visage. The story opens with some bared nipple and missing teeth, as the last survivor of the camp stumbles out of the woods, then jumps back in time to introduce the rest of the soon-to-be-dead victims. The dialogue, while not necessarily realistic, at least doesn't feel as contrived and self-consciously hip as modern horror film and comic scripts tend to be. Judging from the first few pages, Palmiotti and Gray aren't skimping on the violence, and judging by the last few pages, they will be exploring some of the more supernatural elements of the series, which are all too often neglected by the films in favor of mindless slashing.

Adam Archer and Peter Guzman's art is up to the task of translating Jason Voorhees' exploits from screen to sequential art. There's a nice touch of angularity to the pencils, augmented by thin inks and thick shadows, and some mild exaggeration in some of the perspectives and faces helps unsettle the reader. The Friday the 13th series, despite its popularity, was always the least interesting of the 80s slasher cycle, and it's nice to see some passion injected into what was always a staid, pale imitation of Halloween. In the first issue, there's nothing that threatens to re-invent the series, but by focusing on the elements that made the series bearable, the creative team promises to keep it alive. Or at least undead.

 

Rating: 7 on 10

 

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