Dark Twisted Fantasy

What drew me to this book was the artwork. The style is one I’ve always loved in comics, very reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy or video games like Darkest Dungeon. It’s perfect for horror: deep shadows, heavy black inks, and stylized visuals that let the blood, guts, and nudity hit when needed, without losing the storytelling edge.

The colors in Karcis are done well. The artists make smart use of the snowy white landscapes, letting that blank canvas set the stage for pops of bright color, like character jackets, vehicles, lights, or signage, that pull your eye exactly where it needs to go. The contrast between the icy exteriors and the darker, colder interiors creates a chilling sense of isolation. When the story shifts indoors, into cabins or homes, the warm, muted tones create a temporary sense of safety, which only heightens the tension when things go wrong. The color work does a great job of reinforcing the mood and tone throughout the book.

Dramatic Hooks

The story starts in the present timeline with what I call a “doomed character”, someone whose fate you can already guess, and then flashes back to a few days earlier. That setup can be tricky; a lot of writers can’t pull it off because once you start with a dramatic hook, you need to tell an even more compelling story afterward to keep readers engaged. But here, it works. You get pulled into the mystery pretty quickly.

Karcis, our title character, is a private investigator who takes a case in the snow-covered wilderness up north. He’s presented as a total outsider, and the town’s cold welcome comes across loud and clear on the page. The characters are well-designed, not just visually but in personality too. Even characters who only get a few panels stand out as individuals.

What starts as a missing persons case soon turns into a murder mystery. And there’s clearly something more, something old and monstrous, lurking in this village. The story hints at a larger history, and it’s got me wanting more.

The Slow Burn

Now, the story is slow, but I wouldn’t call it badly paced. The slower pace gives you time to appreciate the beautiful linework. I found myself scanning panels for clues and small details: the cereal boxes, the widow’s family photos, the little things that add texture to the world. There’s real attention to detail here, and it’s rare to see in indie books. Honestly, not many comics make me want to look up the artist after finishing, but this one did.

The story reads like it’s meant to move slower than your usual superhero fare. Like any good mystery, you might feel a little lost even when you think you know where it’s going, and I welcome that. A mystery shouldn’t spoon-feed you every answer. And while it’s just a first issue, it sets the stage well and leaves enough on the table to bring me back for more.

My only real concern, and this is something you see often in the indie scene, is whether the same team will return for issue #2. The tone, art, and atmosphere work so well together that I’d hate to see the momentum lost due to a creative team change.

Recommended if you like:

Stories with the aesthetic of Hellboy, Baltimore, or The Dark and Bloody. If you’re into slow-burn horror with occult vibes, small-town secrets, and a moody, atmospheric art style that leans into the shadows—this one’s for you.

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