REVIEW: Charles Band’s Puppet Master: Curtain Call #2

Writer:  Shawn Gabborin
Artist:  Daniel J. Logan
Colorist:  Yann Perrelet
Review:  Art Bee

In 1989 there was a B-movie sensation that captured the imagination of my younger self, and its name was Puppet Master. I was a B-movie horror nut for a long time until it became a major fad in the mid-90s with an outpouring of plotless crap and gimmicky special effects. When the effects took the lead in the movie, my interest faded all together. A few months ago I caught word that a new big budget film was being made with the Puppet Master title in 2018, piquing my curiosity.

Puppet Master is a storyline centered on an ancient Egyptian spell which allows the caster to imbue an inanimate object with some of their own life force. In the movies, more than a dozen of them, the popular vessel used for this practice was marionette puppets, who were the true stars of the films. Each had their own personality and special ability. My personal favorite was Pinhead, with his tiny head and large arms and mitts, but all of them are well worth anyone’s affection.

Issue 2 starts out with a fight between the living puppets. Each one of them locked in heated combat (yeah, that is a pun since one of the puppets is a walking flamethrower) while their masters talk things over. The two in conversation are father and son, both unnamed in this issue. The father has apparently been given “near immortality” by the Egyptian god Anapas and that gift was conditional upon fathering a child.     

I was not able to grab the first issue of this mini-series. Even though I hadn’t read the first issue I should not have been as lost as I was. This issue not only failed to provide a synopsis giving a new reader insight into the story but also failed to provide any contextual clues to this information in the narrative. They didn’t even feel the need to let a new reader know anyone’s name other than Andre Toulan, and he is only identified by last name, which only helps those familiar with the movies. I can handle many different failures in comic books, but this is one of the worst. How can a comic creator attract new readers if you expect them all to have been onboard from the first issue?

The artistry is bipolar. The illustration and layout is mostly done well, though there are a few panels in which the drawing is a bit distorted or sloppy looking. The attention to detail on the puppets is where the importance should be, and that’s where it is. So the “attaboy” award goes to Logan for his fabulous work on them. The “oops, I did it again” award goes to Perrelet for his sloppy and haphazard misuse of the color red. Red is splattered everywhere in the panels from where it is supposed to be as well as where it is not. Almost all of the shading is done with red. Even the brown tones used seem to have too much red to them. I would almost like to think the printing is at fault but that would leave many of the flesh tones washed in complete red, and they are not.

The movie next year has me very excited but, depressingly, Puppet Master: Curtain Call does not. I may try to get ahold of the first issue and try again. Maybe with the knowledge of what happened in it my opinion will change, but my review won’t. Every issue in a comic series needs to treat the reader as if it’s their first exposure to the story. This doesn’t mean the story needs to be retold; just give the reader enough to understand. Most of all USE THE CHARACTER’S NAMES…unless they need their identities protected.