Draw You In Vol. 1- Collector’s Item
By Jasper Bark
2024 Crystal Lake
Paperback, 264 pages
Jasper Bark has been a friend of
mine for many years and I have been a fan of his since I first read Stuck On
You (Crystal Lake, 2014) a decade ago. We have often discussed horror
comics, with an accent on Eerie Pubs and in particular, artist Bill Alexander.
When I cracked this book open and started to dig in, I swear I thought he was
writing this tome just for me. But no, everyone can (and will!) enjoy this
layered horror mystery that takes place in the comic world. And another world.
Linda Corrigan is a comic book
artist of some renown, but with the changes in the industry, she finds herself
under-employed and working Artist’s Alley at a Con. Her editor comes by her
table and invites her to a swanky industry party. That is the last she hears of
him. She can’t get into the party because nobody has heard of the guy. In fact,
even though she had worked for him for a number of years, his name and credits
have all disappeared. She thinks it’s an elaborate hoax, but the police just
think she’s lost it.
FBI Agent McPherson heard her
tale and believes her. He has similar cases that he’s exploring, and he offers
her a job to work with him. Also in tow is comic historian Richard Ford and together,
they have a link to forgotten horror artist R.L. Carver. Research shows that
Carver was much more than just a funny-book artist and they find themselves
embroiled with secret societies, men in black, and life-threatening ordeals.
Could Carver’s legendary, unpublished Tales That
Draw You In have something to do with it all? Is the work
actually cursed?
This is a multi-textured first
entry into Bark’s mythical but often true trilogy of Draw You In. Real
comic creators make appearances and many of the oddball characters are based on
real people. Gun-toting Hymie Schmeling is none other than our beloved Eerie
publisher Myron Fass, right down to almost shooting his partner “Stanley
Morris” (and what about that secret of his? Hmmmm…). Like I said, I swear this
was written for me!
Comic geekery, violent murders,
some Plato thrown in for good measure, along with well-rounded characters that
you can relate to are just some of the ingredients that Bark weaves into this
epic tale. It is all told with an unblinking eye and prose that contains a
touch of humor alongside a touch of evil. At the end of this first volume,
which leaves many questions unanswered, I am left wanting more. I’m looking
forward to jumping into the next volume not only to get some answers, but to
see what else my friend Jasper has up his nefarious sleeve.
Draw You In Vol. 2- Secret Origins
By Jasper Bark
2024 Crystal Lake
Paperback, 268 pages
Well, Linda found herself on a
book tour after Volume One and had retired from her role as FBI helper. Of
course, strange things happened on her tour, and she couldn’t get the
mysterious and unfinished work out of her mind, so she hitched back up with
McPherson and Richard and they got right back to work. Richard had uncovered a
potential goldmine of a lead… an actual member of the underground (literally)
group Shadows in the Cave, a cabal who can and have changed the face of
America’s history.
The first half of this volume
sends the trio on a scavenger hunt of clues laid down by the secret informant.
They find themselves in Boston and Cambridge, specifically on the Harvard
Campus. Listen- I have lived in the Boston Area for over 40 years, working in
and living near Harvard Square for a quarter of those years and Jasper Bark
seems to know the area better than I do! In fact, I never knew that the Shadows
in the Cave actually are found in a deep sanctuary beneath the college. Our
heroes passed their tests and are admitted into the lair and given more
information, as well as have some taken from them. Linda puts it best
herself: “I never expected our investigation to take this turn. Then again, I
never expected a prehistoric larvae to lay a memory into my brain in an
underground cavern.”
Just as they run out of one
lead, another presents itself and things keep getting more and more dangerous.
Bark throws us a couple of Draw You Interludes to give us a taste of
Carver’s notorious Tales That Draw You In. The story (within the story)
is just as complex and weird as the main storyline, with nice grisly horror
images that I can only picture as being illustrated like Graham Ingels’ work on
“Horror We? How’s Bayou?” (Haunt of Fear #17, Feb. 1953). It really
shows why Carver had trouble getting it published, and it’s not just the
content.
Bark is one smart cookie. He may
even be the Midswégan himself. (Read the book, dammit.) The intricacies
of this plot are many but none of it feels overwritten. This really is
storytelling at its top level. Again, we are left with a lot of questions but
even as things become more confused, they become clearer. As Linda’s repressed
memories are brought out, we’re learning just how much more she is involved in
the whole plot.
I’m eager to get to the final
volume of this puzzle and get all of the pieces into place. It has been quite a
ride to this point, and I doubt it will let up in Volume 3.
Draw
You In Vol. 3- Behind the Mask
By
Jasper Bark
2024
Crystal Lake
Paperback,
354 pages
This volume starts off with
Linda at her shrink, digging up her forgotten memories. Scary work, indeed. She
eagerly hooks back up with Richard and McPherson because she has learned
something. Where the Midswégan is. And what is it? It is an artificial god, a
“tapestry of minds”, and they fear it is going to cause the end the world as we
know it. The trio continue their detective work and their search for Carver
until McPherson abruptly throw Linda and Richard out of the car, abandoning
them.
In this volume, we meet Carver’s
three Horror Hosts “in person”, we learn the identities of the Shadows in the
Cave and we learn that, even in our own real lives, we have to question “the
fabric of reality” and what is real and what isn’t. Bark shifts into overdrive
and Corrigan’s world goes from dangerous to hopeless to mystical and
well-beyond. I’m trying to not tip my hand at all and remain spoiler free, but
you wouldn’t believe me if I said anything, anyway!
This is an extraordinary work of
(mostly) fiction, on such an epic scale that it makes Stephen King’s The
Stand (1978) read like Fun with Dick and Jane. After you get the rug
pulled out from under you, Bark politely sets up another rug, makes you stand on it, then proceeds to
pull that one. But every blow you take is essential to the story as a whole.
Think Lovecraft’s worlds were fucked up? The world Corrigan finds herself in
puts ol’ HP in the backseat, makes him buckle up and stay quiet. Bark never
loses sight of his comic book fandom while creating visions that no artist, not
even R.L. Carver could ever illustrate.
Really, this is a remarkable
piece of work, and I’m not just saying it because my own name appears in the
same inch of text as Gustave Doré and Bill Alexander (which it does!). The
scope and breadth of this trilogy is breathtaking and massive but thanks to
Bark’s ability and the pure joy he displays in his writing, it never gets
confusing or dull. This trio is the definition of a page-turner. And don’t
worry, the gore quotient kept this gorehound happy and salivating.
This is really an extraordinary work of art. Get it, read it and immerse yourself into a memorable experience. The truth is heard. It gladdens our hearts.
Pick up Jasper's magnum opus here!