March 19, 2023

As I have continued my catch-up column, I have plunged into the world of independent comics. I very rarely read independent books, sticking mostly to Marvel. However, there have been some outstanding books that I have been very happy to have read that I missed because of my market isolation. Starting off with Something is Killing the Children to Black Cloak.

However, along the way, I came across a book that has now become one of my absolute favorite comic book series of all-time!

Gideon Falls.

As I was getting into the Black Orchard Mythos series of books from Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, I started looking back at some of the previous work from these two. I have been getting more into horror comics over the last few years and I discovered Gideon Falls. I was able to purchase the entire series on eBay and I started reading it, two-issues at a time.

I was completely hooked.

This series was just sensational. The story flowed easily, making each issue a breeze to read. The art was horrifically beautiful, with the tone built right into it. The images throughout Gideon Falls’ run was so memorable, so spectacular, that there were plenty of times when I would be taken aback by what I saw. The art was not like what most comics are. It was a psychadelic horror movie come to the page.

I decided this morning that I would go ahead and do today’s Comic Catch-Up as an excuse to sit down and finish off the entire series. I had read up through issue #10 as of yesterday and I took #11-27 and spent a couple of hours engulfing myself in the wild world of Gideon Falls.

I loved the characters in the series. Father Fred, Daniel, Norton Sinclair, Doc Sutton, The Bishop, The Laughing Man, Joe Reddy, Sheriff Clara and Dr. Angela Xu.

I was completely captivated by the Black Barn. It gave me feelings of the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. Jeff Lemire confirmed that the idea of the Black Barn was inspired by the dimension from Twin Peaks, but it was most definitely its own thing.

The story was both complex and simple at the same time. It was easy to follow while challenging the ideas and the concept the entire time. What did not feel like separate stories, suddenly became clear that they were. That was the first wild twist of the series, and then it went about taking these group of separate characters in storylines and smashing them together in the most unexpected ways. It was a wonderfully plotted series that never felt predictable but never lost me in the complexities.

Issue #27 was an 80-page epic that brought the series to a remarkably satisfying conclusion while still dangling that carrot indicating that everything may not be over.

Gideon Falls is one of my all-time favorite comic series as of today. I found it completely riveting and expertly told. I am going to miss having another couple of issues of Gideon Falls to read moving forward.