Review: Maniac of New York #2

Horror can be hard to do in comic books. Sure, you can have monsters and even gore; but that grip you by “the seat of your pants” type of horror can be hard to deliver.

Maniac of New York is the story of a masked killed known as Maniac Harry. Once thought gone, he now rides the Mayor new fully automated train in search of innocent passengers to slice’n’dice. But when there is a jaded reporter who knows more than he lets on to the police, a mayor who will stop at nothing to catch Harry and a jaded detective entwined in the story, maybe there is more than one maniac.

Writer Elliott Kalan has crafted a story in the style of all the best serial killer movies. Whilst the spree that Harry is currently on is of course inexcusable, it is the fractured characters that perhaps hold their own level of evil. Kalan carefully weaves them into place; murky ideals leading to murkier actions or sometimes inactions. The only saving grace is Gabriella Acosta, an exhausted car jumper trying to stay at least a carriage ahead of the killer, hampered by two kids she helps along the way. All is not lost though; there are still heroes to be found, be it Gina Greene of the Maniac Task Force who is on her first shift and NYPD detective Zelda Pettibone who has more than her share of problems. Bu using Gabriella, Kalan effectively gives the book a nice little contrast between the two aspect of evil on show.

Andrea Mutti’s art first caught my eye in the excellent Fearscape and of course its not a sequel/sequel A Dark Interlude. Mutti’s of beat style and painted colors give the book an almost surreal look where characters are rounded up to give them a heavier set, an elongated style or even a homely next door persona, surely the most benign and therefore darkest of the lot. Often times, the focus on the characters in the background, with their look of fright and shock adds to the horror vibe. Facial expressions are used effectively throughout, hinting at Mutti’s previous work, including 2000 A.D. Taylor Esposito delivers a font that seams European, with some excellent touches of nuance used for emphasis.

I have said it a few times, but I am not a huge horror fan. That said, Kalan and Mutti have created a book that is truly disturbing in places.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 4.5 Stars

Written by; Elliott Kalan
Art & Colors by; Andrea Mutti
Letters by; Taylor Esposito
Published by; AfterShock Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network