COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Drumhellar #1
I have somewhat pieced things together after reading and re-reading Drumhellar #1, just to make sure I understood things right. Drum Hellar’s got something to do with the supernatural; whether he’s just a detective or some “clean-up” specialist, I’m not really sure. His relationships have been sour, given how things went with his girlfriends. And one of them, Padma, who doesn’t seem to be comfortable with the idea of helping out Hellar when he asks for help, turns out to be the ex-girlfriend of another ex-girlfriend, which happens to be a werewolf. Crazy right?
The story starts with Drum Hellar in a bathrobe in the middle of who knows where, wielding a golf club and pulling a peacock out of the ground. He picks up a golden egg, peeks into another dimension, gets struck by lightning then moves on to another trip involving past girlfriends, hallucinogens and flesh-hungry bogmen. And he goes around while his gear’s not around, although he does have a purple ghost companion with him that looks like some cat or raccoon.
If you understood what I’ve just said, good for you. If not, don’t worry, since I’m not sure I fully understood it either. I know this review wouldn’t sound reliable with the obvious tone of uncertainty, but that’s just really the case. It’s really frustrating how the book just throws in a lot of events happening, letting things pile up without any room to catch a breath and understand what’s going on. Whether it’s weird, experimental or some complex storytelling, the fact remains that this issue’s story does not seem to have its pieces in place.
The book’s divided into separate moments that the reader could follow for a while. Individually these moments work but put them together without clear connection or some helpful walkthrough and we get a disjointed work in the first pass. For a #1, this made me take another go before I get a picture of what’s happening, or at least I think I got a picture. Yes, what I’ve been saying may be bad for the new reader, or people who get irked by the absence of resolution. But, on the good side, it works towards Drumhellar’s theme of weirdness and chaos.
Right off the bat this book tells the reader not to expect some usual supernatural detective story. Riley Rossmo has successfully brewed up an atmosphere of peculiarity and mystery. Rossmo teams up with Alex Link who takes charge of the script and Link’s work doesn’t disappoint. Even though it wouldn’t take a while to lose focus on what’s transpiring, the script gives a clear image of who the characters are, making the oddball Hellar likeable despite the werewolf bitemarks and trippy mud-chewing. 
Rossmo handled not only the story but also the art and colors and visually, he’s got things covered. While the narrative’s mind-boggling and not easy to discern whether to give a thumbs up or down, the art’s easy to follow and fall in love with. I couldn’t help but appreciate how Rossmo contrasted the steady, controlled look of the real world with the psychedelic hallucinations, interdimensional visions and otherworldy bogs. The way he used the dotted shading makes the pages look light as a vintage comic plus there’s the bright colors that really pop out and shout surreal or eerie.
Image Comics‘ Drummhellar #1 is one crazy starting point for the supernatural detective. I may be skeptic with the story but the strange insane world of Hellar plus how it’s depicted by Rossmo’s art works like a charm. The potential might not be enough reason for some, but what I do hope though is that the disjointed winding story is there to bring us a bigger, better picture.
Review Score:
7/10
Once again, thanks to Comic Odyssey. If you wanna check out what weird stuff I’m talking about, grab your copy of Drumhellar #1 from the nearest branch now!
