Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman; if that title doesn’t grab ya by the short n’ curlies I have no idea what will!
Merrick’s creative team, consisting of writer Tom Ward and illustrator Luke Parker have taken some cherry picked elements from the life of the real Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man with tumor like growths covering his body who became something of a celebrity in the Victorian Age (and who’s life was the basis of David Lynch’s 1980 masterpiece, The Elephant Man) and swirled them around, amplified them, and mixed them with all manner of occult-laden goings-on and Masonic cult deviltry.
This is a heady concoction indeed cats n’ creeps and when you take those concepts and slap some gorgeously rendered, chiaroscuro-infused arcane art on top of them, reminiscent of the works of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola in his prime no less, and you have one hell of a treat for the eerie eyeballs let me tell ya!
I can’t recommend this wicked wonder to you boils n’ ghouls highly enough, especially if you dig on material such as Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Penny Dreadful, or Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (and of course that red bastard mentioned up yonder, created by the dude that adapted Coppola’s fang-banger of a motion picture… ).
If you want to check out Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman for your own damn selves (and trust me, you totally do) you can head right here!
