Sure, Biff Bam Pop! just closed the book on our annual 31 Days of Horror columns, but like our favourite fearsome tales, horror tends to persist!
Where’s the rule that says everything terrifying must stop at the stroke of midnight on October 31st? No where, that’s where.
And so, we’re going to continue with the genre in this column today – for a horror that is stepped in the old west, still able to chill the bone in the here and now.
A great thing about a writer and/or illustrator setting a story’s horrific take in a bygone era (the late nineteenth century in this particular case) is that, through naivety, a benefit of doubt is firmly established by a reader. It’s not like we, as readers, can directly compare our own daily existence and experiences with what is known to the protagonists of a historical narrative.
Unless you’re Doc Emmet Brown, none of us have lived through the 1800’s. Other than what we’ve already read in books or seen in films, we don’t know what it was actually like living in that time period. We don’t really know what those people did. We don’t really know what those people saw. We don’t really know what those people discovered.
Or what they might have unleashed.
As readers, we can more easily believe what we’re being told in historical fiction. And that can make the story all the more blood-curdling. Especially when it’s through two creative forces at the top of their game. Exactly what we get with Canary #1.
Written by Scott Snyder (Batman, American Vampire, Wytches, Barnstormers, Night Of The Ghoul) and illustrated by Dan Panosian (Alice Ever After, Batman, The Flash, Captain America, Prophet) and published monthly by Dark Horse Comics, Canary is an oversized three-issue miniseries that brings horror to the old west.
In the Utah Territory of 1891, famed US Marshall Azrael William Holt begins an investigation on a series of unspeakable and entirely out of the ordinary disparate murders. Joined by a young geologist, their deep dive into the mysteries of the growing town of Canary and its wild surroundings uncover an age-old horror buried deep within the rocky caverns of an abandoned mine. Of course, there are also personal horrors that need attending, as well – a history that is more strange and more horrifying than any dime-store magazine exploit could ever relay!
Canary was originally published as an online series via ComiXology but it now gets a wonderful tangible treatment for lovers of horror and historically accurate dramas, let alone plain, old, great stories. Snyder and Panosian have crafted a compelling tale of horror entrenched with completely formed and motivated characters, placed in a real-life historical setting full of politics, prejudices and both feral landscapes and people. It’s a wonderful, blood curdling experience!
Make the run to your local comic book shop and pick up the first issue of Canary today!
You can catch a sneak peek at Canary #1 right here. You can also watch the trailer for the series directly below.
