Comic Book Review - Basilisk #6
Rob reviews Basilisk #6...
Things have certainly started to heat up in Cullen Bunn's rural horror - Basilisk. Over the last couple of issues we've seen both Hannah and the Chimera come into direct conflict. With the first battle resulting in the death of Manny, Hannah still has the remaining four Chimera to go. Yet as each dies, the remaining grow stronger. Whilst Manny's powers transfered to Regan - who's to say that lightning will strike twice?
Basilisk #6 picks up straight after the events of #5. The Chimera group have laid seige to a shopping mall, and both Hannah and Regan are close behind. Meanwhile Barrett is organising the Faithful to come to the Chimera's aid, yet his actual agenda seems to differ from that of head honcho, Vanessa.
Much like that seen in previous issues, we're taken back to events of the past. This time we're following Hannah as she attends a work conference. There's a great focus on her family through this scene as Alex Guimarães paints them with a cool blue tone, whilst everything else is bathed in a muted brown. This ones all about Hannah and we soon get to see why. We soon learn that during this conference, Hannah has a one-night stand. It's also this moment of infidelity that comes back to haunt her during the upcoming battle. Through most of Basilisk, Hannah has been mostly a blank slate. While she's been portrayed as a "vengeful mother", we've seen very little else of her life.
While Hannah continues her quest, the Chimera have brutalised a shopping mall and we rejoin the group as Vanessa orders Cara and Jimmy-Boy to look for survivors. As Cara playfully skips between the mountain of corpses, Jimmy-Boy finds a survivor who's the chosen one to spread the Chimera's bloody gospel. Little does the group know that Regan and Hannah are also in the mall. This is where the issue shifts into full on action.
The second half of Basilisk #6 comes at quite a pace. Much like the previous battle, Hannah utalises an element of suprise to get the drop on the Chimera group. While she has no problem taking out Jimmy-Boy and Vanessa, she's hesitant to shoot Cara due to her child-like nature, which also brings up memories of "that night". It's this hesitation that allows the Chimera some breathing space, which Barrett utalises to bring his Faithful into the fray.
One thing I've enjoyed about the series is that this is Hannah's story and Regan is just there in the background. While she has these powers, she has only utalised them when absolute necessary. Thankfully, Bunn gives Regan some breathing room as she unleashes her powers on the Faithful within a gorgeous full page spread of luminous blues and frantic line work by Schaf and Guimarães.
Basilisk #6 continues to build upon its already solid foundations. There's a gorgeous minimalist style to Bunn's script which allows Jonas Schaf to speak with his illustrations, and the two work incredibly well together. The overall story has just the right amount of horror, that allows each issue it's "scary" moment, whilst not filling every page with the same. While the overall battle continues, its certainly going to get a lot darker before the dawn.
Just who's going to be left standing?
Rating 9/10
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Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev
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