Story by: Nick Keller
Artist: Conor Nolan
Color Artist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Published by: Dark Horse
Bedtime Games #1 is a by the numbers horror comic that works well. Keller does a nice job creating an interesting introduction to this four part miniseries.
First set of questions to get out of the way for any horror comic: Is it scary? No. But is it creepy? Absolutely. There is always a sense of unease throughout, even during more mundane moments.
The story flows well with simple panel layouts, effective splashes, and color shifts for different scenes. Despite being a lot of backstory for the three main characters, the pacing does not falter. Some lovely themes and contrasts are peppered throughout the story, putting a more unique spin on a monster story. Each character has their own distinct voice, though some dialogue gets a bit clunky. Real life conflicts affect the main characters to an extent that the monster almost comes out of nowhere. As of now, the monster has little to no backstory, but that might be covered in future installments.
Art in Bedtime Games is overall very well done and can be quite striking at times. Nolan creates some great panels, a few of which look straight out of a classic EC horror comic. Fitzpatrick’s painterly colors work well with Nolan’s frantic ink lines to make something that brings classic horror to modern day. The only downside is sometimes the sketchiness of the art gets carried away, making some pages confusing. This should not dissuade people from a second read in which one may pick up more than what was seen the first time through.
Bedtime Games #1 is a fun monster story, that anyone looking for something a little different should check out.
