Comic Book Journal

I just picked up Simon Dark out of curiosity and to my surprise, it’s a great find. The last time I remember reading anything by Steve Niles, he had just recently revamped Punisher for Marvel and turned him into a walked zombie of sorts. With Steve Niles fondness for horror, I knew to expect something dark, as the title indicates, but I didn’t think I would see something this dark coming from DC without being under the Vertigo imprint.

With that said, Simon Dark is a cross between Edward Scissorhands, Frankenstein, and the Punisher. It also reminds me of the Spectre, in his early days. Simon Dark the main character of the series, is a made man, who had his body basically sewn together out of parts of others. He sees life and death as black and white, yet has no knowledge that humans need all of their body parts, particularly their heads. Through this issue he hunts down a criminal who killed his beloved pet and murders them.

With this grim of a plot, surprisingly, I liked the story and as a reader I did feel for Simon, it is this ability to convey humanity through dialogue which gives Simon his likability. Simon Dark is a winner. Niles plotting and structure is the best I’ve seen come out of a horror book for quite sometime (since Buffy) and I cannot speak enough about Scott Hampton’s artwork. His pencils are dynamic, no character goes without being lovingly rendered, and the backgrounds are gorgeous. I can’t say how well-balanced everything in his artwork is, so I though I’d include a page here:

On a scale of one to ten, I’d have to give this book a nine out of ten. The only flaw I can see in this series so far is the choice to leave a title this grim and graphic in the regular DC lineup rather than have it printed under Vertigo, specifically for mature readers. This one is a keeper I’ll probably pick up the first few issues and finish out the series you should too.

So what has the Punisher been up to since Niles left? I know, do you? Check out my blog at http://www.comicbookjournal.net/punisher-war-journal-16/ for the rest of the details.