Written by: Caitlin Kittredge
Drawn by: Inaki Miranda
Published by: Vertigo
Over the course of the past two issues of Coffin Hill, the story has felt stalled, as if it had simply come to a grinding halt. There just didn’t always seem to be much happening. Even though Eve Coffin and company remained great characters, the plot simply couldn’t quite keep up. With Coffin Hill #11, that changes completely. Both of the plots that are currently running simultaneously in this book really kicked into gear with this issue, as everything begins to come together, and fairly major events actually happening. There’s plot progression throughout the entire book. It’s as if Josef Stalin had hit Coffin Hill with one of his five year (or, in this case one issue) plans, hammering the book through major plot points in a very short span of time.
The thing about this story arc is that the plot has never not been interesting. Eve’s story is fairly standard detective fare, with a little hint of the supernatural for good measure. Seeing her exist as a cop, rather than simply the witch of Coffin Hill, has been awesome. The detective work that she, and her comrades, have been doing has been a nice addition to the book, it’s just been dragging on for quite some time. The argument, of course, could have been made that detective cases aren’t solved overnight, and not every character can be Batman, solving multiple cases in a single night. Unfortunately. though that may be realistic, it doesn’t translate well to serialized story telling. But then this issue happened. We see some massive (relatively speaking, of course) advances on the plot front, and for the first time it seems as if they’re actually getting closer to the Ice Fisher.
In addition, things are moving forward on the character front as well. Of course, this seems to be a constant in every issue of Coffin Hill. If nothing else, Caitlin Kittredge knows how to write solid character arcs, and that’s definitely continuing with Eve in this issue. Sure, the last few pages are a little predictable, and at this point, it seems that the identity of the Ice Fisher has all but been revealed. That being said, we’ve already been given multiple red herrings throughout the span of this book’s run so far. So while many of the smaller things in this issue can be seen coming, I really have no doubt we’ll be thrown a curve ball as the story arc comes to a close.
Meanwhile, outside of Boston, back in Coffin Hill, we’re being given a pretty solid horror story. Though the entire book is undeniably a thriller, all of the really creepy, horror stuff is happening in Coffin Hill. The first few pages alone should establish that this is going to be a creepy issue, and every time we bounce back to Coffin Hill, we get some great horror scenes. These scenes are brought to life by Inaki Miranda’s wonderful art, which adds a great deal to the book as a whole. Plus, the pacing of this plot seems to be mirroring the pace of the murder plot in Boston, and really kicks into gear with this issue, adding a good deal of suspense to the book.
So if you’ve fallen behind on Coffin Hill, or even dropped it, now would be a good time to get back on the bandwagon. And if you aren’t reading it, well, what’s wrong with you? Ok, that may have been offensive, but Coffin Hill is definitely a book that should be much more popular than it is. It’s a great horror comic, but it does so much more than that, offering great characters and a plot that’s had new life breathed into it. The creative team really brings their a-game for this issue, and it definitely shows.
