It’s a No-Tell Motel in Hotell Because Almost Everyone Dies (Also: Little Monsters! Red Sonja!)

A “Hotel California” reference here would be pretty lame, right? But there are literally characters checking out and never leaving in Hotell Vol. 2 #5, written by John Lees, drawn by Dalibor Talajic, colored by Lee Loughridge, lettered by Sal Cipriano and published by Artists, Writers and Artisans.

There’s a “New Kid in Town,” and she’s got talking chain mail and more than enough curses to keep her busy in Immortal Red Sonja #2, written by Dan Abnett, drawn by Emiliana Pinna, colored by Luca Colandrea, lettered by Jeff Eckleberry and published by Dynamite.

“Love Will Keep Us Alive” is true, if by “love” you mean “blood,” and “alive” is actually “undead.” Little Monsters #3 is written by Jeff Lemire, drawn by Dustin Nguyen, lettered by Steve Wands and published by Image.

Will Nevin: Ian, we’re putting another series to bed this week after a couple of weeks of skipping it in favor of more timely books we needed to get to. So, 1) how ya feelin’ and 2) what is it with this comic publishing thing that keeps putting out new issues every week?

Ian Gregory: It’s finally turned warm here in Chicago, so I’m feeling great. That said, I’m a little confused: These comic book things keep turning up in my inbox every week. Who is making them? Who is sending them? Why are we reviewing them? Hopefully we’ll eventually figure out these mysteries.

Will: I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ian — I live in Alabama. It’s always warm here. The comics, though? That’s a real puzzler.

Hotell Vol. 2 #5: We’d Advise Against Pissing Off the Malevolent Clown Specter, but You Do You

Will: It’s the end of the road for Silver, his gang of marauding bikers and this volume of Hotell, a series that won’t win any Eisners but is sure as hell enjoyable as a grindhouse morality play full of gore and weird shit. First, what did you think of this issue, and second, how did you like this as a wrapup for the volume?

Ian: I was pretty satisfied with this. It plays out in much the same way as the fifth issue of volume one: All the previous stories come into play in one last symphony of violence. I was pleasantly surprised to see some tie-back to stories in the first volume, which helps keep this series feeling consistent, and like Pierrot Courts is a real place, not just a setting for an anthology series. I also like the mechanics behind the clown — Silver displays a certain level of genre savvy in getting rid of the clown painting, but that is not enough to help him. The end result may be the same, but it feels like the human characters were responsible for defeating Silver, rather than just letting the evil clown god deus ex pictura them once again.

Will: Deus ex pictura? That’s some good shit there, Ian. Reminds me of the deus ex Clooney conclusion of Gravity.

Ian: The only problem with reading Hotell on release is the urge to go back and read all the previous stories to catch up on all the characters and their spooky supernatural circumstances. All in all, a strong finish to a strong volume. Of course, if Hotell makes it to a third volume, I’ll be a little more critical if it follows the pattern established in volumes one and two. We had the theme, an elaboration on the theme, and now I’m hoping for a twist. Give me some of that kishotenketsu.

Will: A highlight for me in this issue was the character details put into Silver. He could have been just a boilerplate prick, but Lees puts in the work to show that he’s a special sort of prick — the kind who would “piss on his own toes to prove a point.” The writing here is better than it has any right to be. And I’m fuckin’ sorry for what sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I think we (or maybe “I” there) have a certain level of expectations for small indie publishers, be it in art — which is often not great — or in writing. But this is a really tightly written series that’s a lot of fun.

Ian: Silver is great because he really thinks he’s got everything figured out. He’s the star of his personal action movie that’s wandered into a horror movie — the goat and the tiger of the opening story. His response to the horror weirdness of Pierrot Courts is, like with everything else, violence. That doesn’t work for him, and his simple desire to make himself happy is ultimately what allows him to get tricked and defeated by Muriel. In Hotell, it seems like the most important character trait is humility, and learning to accept your own mistakes — that’s why Nathan makes it out of this volume alive and whole.

Will: Finally, we’re getting a third volume of this, right? I’m going to assume there’s more until we see Hell itself swallow up Pierrot Courts like the house in Carrie. You’ve seen Carrie, right?

Ian: What’s Carrie?

Will: Oh, fuck me.

Immortal Red Sonja #2: Everything Is Fucking Cursed, Including the Art

Will: Speaking of art that’s not great, boy howdy, we’ve got some inconsistent work here with Pinna, who is not the artist for #1 nor #3. Two moments stuck out to me as especially rough: Sonja caught in a posture so awkward I can’t even make out what she’s supposed to be doing (pg. 3) and when her face changes so much from one page to another she’s basically a different character (pg. 11).

Ian: Most of my issues with the art were about the actual figures — the setting, coloring and fantastical creatures all look quite good. But I thought that Sonja’s faces in particular, even on other pages, were pretty uneven. It was distracting, but not a dealbreaker.

Will: Art objections aside, I thought this was a fine chapter in this story of Sonja not being able to trust anything in this “cursed” kingdom. Ian, even the cool swords come with terms and conditions. So not fuckin’ fair. Like finding cool loot in Diablo and learning it can’t be repaired. You played Diablo, right? I won’t even be picky with that one — I, II or III suffices.

Ian: Nope.

Will: I can’t catch a goddamned break today. Jesus.

Ian: I do like seeing someone from another “mythos” have to navigate the twisted fairy logic of Arthurian lore with no context. If you go in with basically no preconceptions, you would be deeply frustrated by how arbitrary everything is, and how little it makes sense. It leaves Sonja lots of room to grow — will she find a way to work around the curses, or will she grow to adapt to the logic of this land?

Will: The next issue promises a trip to Merlyn’s tower, a place where Sonja can wake up the eponymous magician and be freed of at least one of her curses (maybe). What’s going to be the catch, Ian?

Ian: Merlyn is definitely going to ask a quest from Sonja in return for his help, and it’s going to be something awful. That, or he is responsible for the decay of the kingdom and the king (“Paindragon”) will be shocked at his betrayal. I’m also interested to see the Green Knight turn up again, and how Sonja will approach their second encounter now that she’s been “read in” on his deal. Overall, this is a pretty fun series. It’s not quite as academic or complex as Once and Future, my preferred Arthurian riff, but this is a pretty solid series all around.

Little Monsters #3: Those Thirsty Lil’ Vamp Scamps

Ian: These monsters, they’re so darn little! I liked this issue, as with the first two, but I felt like it moved a little slow. Last issue ended with the kids finding out about the body, and this issue ends with them only just arriving and starting to drink his blood. I like the way things are headed, and I appreciate that Lemire is taking the time to give a lot of depth to every kid, but I could do with just a little more momentum.

Will: We have temporal decompression in this issue, yes, but I feel like the plot is moving along as the kids are being tempted by the forbidden skin juice box, and we meet the other kid who (presumably) is about to kill them all. Those things gave this issue some stakes that I thought were missing in the first two.

Ian: I do like that we get some more concrete confirmation that the world has ended. The kids weren’t just stuck in this city — they were certain no one else was alive on Earth. That does make me wonder what happened to the adult vampire we see in Billy’s and Romie’s flashbacks (We know that he promised to “come back” from the first issue, but that’s not a lot to go on). Also interesting is that Romie, despite being the oldest (and something of a leader to the group) can’t speak. There’s a neat duality to these two stories, one where Romie manages to communicate and ally with a young human girl, and the other where the vampire children get a little blood drunk on a dead human.

Will: I had assumed the rise of the vampires *was* the end of the earth, but as we see in this issue, it simply coincided with the “second pandemic” in/around 2029. Super. We lived through Warm Up Captain Trips only to see Actual Captain Trips. You know what The Stand is, right, Ian? Actually, don’t answer that. But, yes, I like getting some of this world’s backstory without taking it in one or two big expository chunks. I also like how we’re settling into some key stories and figures within this kiddie brood — We see where Billy and Romie are and are likely to be, but what about Lucas and Yui? The twins? Those are the things to watch as the series moves forward.

Ian: Love the art in this series, and I especially like how the adult vampire in the flashback appears to be transparent, which gives him a sort of mystical quality. Nguyen is great at doing expressions on these kids, which is especially important since they spend a lot of this issue arguing with each other. Everyone feels very human (however ironically), and even with the slow pace I’m unusually invested in these creepy little tykes.

Will: I’m not normally one for black and white comics — we eventually need to joke on the colorized Walking Dead, by the way — but I’m enjoying this series. Pacing be damned!

Does This Smell OK?

Other people who peed wherever they wanted to assert dominance: LBJ.
We had a bit of an oopsie this week (Good job, Will) and got halfway through a review of Grim (written by Stephanie Phillips, illustrated by Flaviano, colored by Rico Renzi, lettered by Tom Napolitano and published by BOOM) before realizing that the great Cat Purcell already had a full review out for your enjoyment. [Grote’s note: You two don’t OWN indie comics on this site, y’know!]
Our verdict on Grim: It’s a very beautiful series, with imaginative characters and setting. However, we got lots of warning signs on the main character Bryan, and questioned his place in the story and whether he would grow into something of an antagonist.
Our dead guy, Bryan, died in a drunken-driving accident in which he was the drunk, pines after a woman who has clearly moved on, steals a magical scythe that allows him to return to the land of the living *and* has a “Fuck the patriarchy” key chain that screams performative allyship in light of everything else we know about him. Seems like a right scumbag to me. [WN]
He’s definitely a little pushy, but that’s understandable seeing as he has died — and off page, too! There’s an undeniable selfishness to him, and I wonder exactly how long he’ll stick around: Is he just here to kickstart this story, or is he going to be hanging around for a while? I can’t help but hope for the former. [IG]
One last bit on Grim: I’m sorry, but if you show me an afterlife bureaucracy, I’m going to think of Beetlejuice. [IG]
Old Bay flavored Goldfish? Not the worst idea in the world.
If you’re upset that a dinner guest is taking leftover filet mignon home to feed their dog, maybe you should look inward and try to figure out why you’re such an irredeemable asshat. You probably overcooked it anyway.