Home Sick Pilots #1 Review

Writer: Dan Watters

Artist: Casper Wijngaard

Rating: 7 of 8

Home Sick Pilots #1

Setting an atmosphere. It's one of the most important parts of any story, no matter the genre. If you manage to set the right one, especially at the start, you're a lot more likely to hook the reader - and then, chances are, they're never letting go. That's definitely something Dan Watters succeeds in doing, opening the issue with a simple, but gripping, opening line. Two panels later, he follows this up with a brief, chilling line that succeeds in expanding this spine chilling atmosphere.

Using this to start the issue - and series - was a brilliant move by the duo. It's expertly crafted by both, with Watters setting the mood through an inner monologue, while Wijngaard brings it to awe inspiring life in his pencils. Untold destruction, a living house and some out of control ghosts - and that's all in the first 3 pages! The duo transition beautifully to the next scene, ending Ami's monologue with her wishing they'd ''never gone to see the Nuclear Bastards that night'', then flashing back to the night they went.

Flashing back a few weeks, Watters transitions from horror to comedy, giving us Ami's opinion of the band in a pretty humourous way, with the singer's speech bubble saying ''Some shitty derivative thrash shit''. Soon after, we see Ami and her band taking bets as to what an arriving police officer's going to say. Not only does this make for some pretty funny moments, but it also establishes a sense that the lads are rather familiar with such situations. It's another example of their natural chemistry, like an earlier critique of not only the Nuclear Bastards, but themselves.

It's something that pops up throughout the issue and just makes it a real joy to read. Watters does well in making you feel just how deep Ami's pain really lies, even if, on the surface, it's not readily apparent. That pain is one of the main reasons we get to the crux of the tale, though there may be a more artistic reason for it as well. When it comes to that horror, the duo deliver in spades, as we get plenty of gory deaths, a scene reminiscent of The Shining and a place that truly defies logic.

If there was one criticism I had of the issue, it's that, in a scene where it pans out, showing the house's insides, it's hard to understand the sequence of some of the events. Overall, though, it's a fantastic debut, with Watters showing a unique mastery of both comedy and horror, while Wijingaard brings it all to life in fantastically frightful fashion.