Comic Book Review: The Local Haunt by Kevin Wind
In the sleepy river town of Stillwater, Minnesota, four young aspiring ghost hunters/video makers investigate the manor on Hounds Hill. It’s reputed to be very haunted, with several different stories ranging from devil dogs to World War Two ghost planes. The quartet enter the building at night, notice that there is odd electromagnetic activity, and then are accosted by a glowing blue woman who wants them to “GET OUT.”
The next morning, our protagonist, Guytano Magno Lemon (“Guy Lemon” to most people) blows into town. He’s a drifter with a mysterious background, who’s been invited to Stillwater by his old friend Mike. Mike’s found a decently-paying gig for Guy (doing what we’re never told) but not a place to stay. Guy spots a handyman job on the diner bulletin board, do some maintenance work at the Hounds Hill Manor in exchange for living there.
The locals react badly, citing the house’s cursed reputation. Guy is naturally skeptical and thinks they’re a bunch of rubes. He’s approached by Jasmine Javaux, one of the ghost hunters from the opening, who shows him a blurry picture of what she claims is the Blue Lady. Guy blows her off. He meets the head caretaker of the manor, Mr. Rex, and is shown around. Mr. Rex looks suspiciously like late-career Elvis Presley, but none of the mannerisms or accent, so Guy decides not to bring it up and signs a work contract.
It soon becomes obvious that weird things are indeed happening at Hounds Hill Manor, though Guy is very reluctant to ascribe this to ghosts. And then there are the two creepy men in black who claim to be from the government, but don’t have even fake credentials. Guy’s bitten off way more than he can chew, but honestly, what is going on here?!
It would be spoilery to reveal just what direction this speculative fiction comic book series by a Minnesota creator is going in. Most of it is not in fact ghosts, however. (One or two things are never actually explained, like the jackalope just casually in the neighborhood.)
There’s some nice energy here, and some disparate concepts that go well together.
Guy’s kind of an irritating protagonist, with some slacker traits, flippancy, and spends much of the story being baffled by events but never quite giving in to the notion of ghosts. He has flashes of competence and possible unusual gifts of his own, but we learn almost nothing about his past or actual skillset. Also, he needs a haircut. He keeps saying “Judas Frost!” as a way of swearing but avoiding naughty words. (Other naughty words get the $%=! treatment.)
The black and white interior art reminds me a lot of the early Nineties independent comics scene. I had to squint a few times in crowd scenes to see if a person was someone we’d already met, or just a very similar drawing.
There’s a number of sequel hooks, but it might be best to have an entirely different story and cast in the same world and hook this book in later.
This book’s mostly of local interest to Minnesotans, but might go down well with fans of stories where the first few pages are misleading.
