REVIEW: Tales From the Darkside #2

Script:  Joe Hill
Adaptation:  Michael Benedetto
Art:  Gabriel Rodriguez
Colors:  Ryan Hill
Letters:  Robbie Robbins
Review:  Art Bee

My recent post in tales-from-the-dollar-box.com about Locke & Key glorified the work of Hill and Rodriguez in that title. We are now faced with another incarnation of their respective talents in Tales From the Darkside from IDW. This comic book is an adaptation of the TV series (1983 – 1988) and feature film (1990). My admission is that I was not aware of Hill and Rodriguez’s involvement in this project; otherwise my excitement would have been overflowing over a month ago.

This series is set up just like the television program. Each issue will be a stand-alone short story with a twist ending. Issue two is the first of a two part story called “The Black Box”, which will not be the norm. The challenge with using the comic book format for short stories is length. The story needs to fit into a fixed number of pages, meaning the story and art need to be concise and flowing. This can be challenging. In High School, everyone has had a writing assignment to write a story with a page or word limit (i.e. 1 to 3 pages double spaced). With a good idea it is easy to exceed the limit, but hard to whittle it down.


This story begins with children playing Monopoly, and one of these children has a secret creepy-eyed friend under the table helping him win. I am a big fan of recurring themes in stories to tie parts together in a small or big way. This story features the Rubik's Cube, which is a supporting star throughout the issue. In issue three I am sure the mystery of these Rubik's Cubes will be exposed and gray matter will paint my ceiling. Until then my sleep will just have to be disturbed.

The flow of the story just captivates me. Whatever formula Joe Hill uses for his scripting is just perfect. Everything he writes seems to just have the most natural flow. While reading this issue, my brain was completely devoid of thought. The story was all that existed and mattered, and I trusted it to supply all of the information needed. What a great reading experience!

I just spent twenty minutes looking over all of the artwork throughout the issue. Normally something stands out as my favorite or horrible. Every panel is just amazing. Each bit of artwork adds to the story and is visually appealing. Gabriel Rodriguez has quickly moved into my top five favorite artists. His work has never faltered in anything I have ever seen and shows his enthusiasm this business.

Tales from the Darkside delivers the same quality of story and artwork as we were delivered in Locke & Key as well as keeping the flavor of the original content from long ago...not so long ago. This series has impressed me so much that I invested in a foil SDCC variant of the first issue on eBay. Trust me. It will be worth it.