Silent Hill:

Paint it Black

Silent Hill is a weird little town in Colorado where there is an abundance of food, electricity, and space, but no inhabitants. Or so it seems, because whenever anyone stumbles upon it, things seem to come out of the woodwork and devour them alive. Strange creatures like skinless dogs, zombie-things with no faces, and gigantic, obese, monstrosities that pulverize anything that moves. There are pyramid-headed guardians, and strange masked man-things with their limbs replaced by blades or saws. All of these things live only to torture and slaughter the living. The weirdness in Silent Hill was caused by a strange cult and their dealings with an alternate universe and the things that live there. Eventually the cult was able to use a powerful little girl by badly burning her and keeping her alive so as to increase her influence over reality. The result was an in between world which featured a decaying and twisted mimicry of ours. This world connects to ours at Silent Hill. Yet with all the big players dead or missing, the creatures seem to just be having some fun while they wait for the whole one world eating another to start up again.

Scott Ciencin (writer) has decided to answer a question, which has been bothering me for some time. Twisted artwork has been an important part of the games (Silent Hill was originally a game for the Playstation, and has had three more installments on the PS2) since the beginning, Ciencin’s story explains where that art comes from; the monsters outsource it. The comic is a one shot (and almost a graphic novel) and Ciencin’s story is very cool. My only problem with it was the cheerleaders going commando squad; that was a little dorky. The artwork, by Shaun Thomas, captures the horror and revulsion of the other world creatures superbly. I also liked the contrast of the newcomers and the cheerleaders all wearing bright yellow. (Notice that when the cheerleaders decide to fight, they change into colors that match the rest of the shadowy comic).

Paint it Black is the story of Ike, an artist of the disturbing and gruesome who finds himself homeless and in need of a place to crash. In a subway, he runs into a strange character who tells him how his friend was eaten alive by monsters in a town where there is a bunch of food and electricity, but no inhabitants. So naturally Ike decides to go squat in Silent Hill. There he finds it just as the guy said, free food and lodging and horrific creatures from hell, but the creatures seem to not mind Ike. The kill anyone else that comes by, though, and it quickly becomes apparent that they want Ike to paint them. They even stop and pose for him. So Ike paints, and when he’s had enough of watching people get eaten as the scream for help, he tries to leave. Except he can’t. So Ike lives alone and loses his mind a little bit each day. Things progress in this fashion until a bus full of cheerleaders breaks down, and it seems like the creatures are going to leave them alone. Or maybe they were just giving Ike time to put the moves on them, because before too long, a flying monster nabs two of the girls. The lead girl Cheryl (diehard fans will choke on their coffee at that name, but this is a different Cheryl) decides to suit up and go after them. The next part is real weird, but let me just remind you that no one escapes Silent Hill, at least not forever.
This comic is not for the faint hearted, weak stomached, or perfectly lucid, but for everyone else, I recommend it. If bizarre horror is your cup of crazy tea, this is one you should check out, but please, if you hear sirens while your reading, or wake up in a smelly, rusty, rotten version of your room, have the good grace to go out kicking and screaming.