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A review by stephen_arvidson
Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night by Caitlin Kittredge, Inaki Miranda
5.0
Urban fantasy author Caitlin Kittredge pens a sophisticated dark horror worthy of high rank in the blood-chilling echelon of illustrated fiction most recently occupied by Joe Hill’s Locke and Key, Tim Seeley's Revival, and Steven T. Seagle’s House of Secrets.
Eve Coffin is a disgraced ex-cop and last scion of the venerated Coffin clan whose heritage dates back to the Salem Witch Trials. With a legacy so embroiled in secrets and old-world mysticism, Eve flippantly likens her family to “the Kennedys with more madness and murder.” Shortly after surviving a cranial gunshot wound, Eve promptly returns to Coffin Hill, a sleepy New England hamlet and home to the ancestral Coffin mansion where evil lurks in the surrounding foothills—an evil unleashed years earlier by Eve and her friends after a night of debauchery and black magic. Sandwiched between the present-day narrative are flashbacks to Eve as a libidinous and transgressive teenager courting dissension of the paranormal variety, her misbehavior emboldened by a contentious relationship with her (literal) witch of a mother. A decade later, Eve realizes this dark force is still at large after several local teens go missing in the same haunted woodlands in which Eve and her friends performed that fateful incantation. To vanquish this unresolved curse, our reformed bad girl must own up to her mistakes and come to terms with her supernatural ancestry.
Coffin Hill is a devious little read, in the manner that the story rebounds back and forth from the eerie to the truly terrifying before finally settling somewhere in a land that is altogether disturbing. Kittredge makes good use of classic horror tropes—decrepit mansions, insane asylums, creepy forests, and a murder of ominous crows—that somehow feels fresh. Iñaki Miranda’s evocative artwork is superbly suited to Kittredge’s twisted imagination. The impudent characters are exceptionally rendered and easily distinguishable, their facial expressions both subtle and expressive as the story demands. Miranda includes several legitimately terrifying splash pages that give full reign to the horror-blanched phantasmagoria. Dynamic layouts and slick coloring deftly capture the story’s gothic ambiance. Much of the plot unfurls at a disoriented pace, courtesy of the chaotic paneling and illusory visuals that tell Kittredge's story in a way that's innovative and strangely seductive.
Kittredge brings a sure touch to Eve's character, dramatizing her internal monologues with angst and razor-sharp sass. There’s a voluptuous grace to Eve in spite of her pale visage and headstrong demeanor. She’s passionate and unapologetic, and seems dead-set on upending her family’s sordid history. Eve Coffin is a total babe, albeit lonely and directionless, who lives fastidiously through the most recklessly negligent version of herself.
Kittredge's plotting is perhaps too ambitious for the title’s meager page count. In attempting to illuminate Eve’s current dilemma with regards to her ancestors' long-standing involvement in witchcraft, the execution comes off a bit muddled at times, but the loose-wheeled timeline ultimately succeeds in building intrigue. As Volume 1 draws to a close, readers get the sense that there are many as-of-yet unseen elements, but Kittredge appears to know where the story is headed. Coffin Hill is refreshingly original and peopled with unconventional heroes brilliantly flawed and even more unsettling for that.
Well-concerned parents, take heed: Coffin Hill contains mature content that may not be suited to immature and developing minds. There’s some brutal violence, strong language, and a little bit with the nudity. Only “young-at-heart” readers need apply.
Eve Coffin is a disgraced ex-cop and last scion of the venerated Coffin clan whose heritage dates back to the Salem Witch Trials. With a legacy so embroiled in secrets and old-world mysticism, Eve flippantly likens her family to “the Kennedys with more madness and murder.” Shortly after surviving a cranial gunshot wound, Eve promptly returns to Coffin Hill, a sleepy New England hamlet and home to the ancestral Coffin mansion where evil lurks in the surrounding foothills—an evil unleashed years earlier by Eve and her friends after a night of debauchery and black magic. Sandwiched between the present-day narrative are flashbacks to Eve as a libidinous and transgressive teenager courting dissension of the paranormal variety, her misbehavior emboldened by a contentious relationship with her (literal) witch of a mother. A decade later, Eve realizes this dark force is still at large after several local teens go missing in the same haunted woodlands in which Eve and her friends performed that fateful incantation. To vanquish this unresolved curse, our reformed bad girl must own up to her mistakes and come to terms with her supernatural ancestry.
Coffin Hill is a devious little read, in the manner that the story rebounds back and forth from the eerie to the truly terrifying before finally settling somewhere in a land that is altogether disturbing. Kittredge makes good use of classic horror tropes—decrepit mansions, insane asylums, creepy forests, and a murder of ominous crows—that somehow feels fresh. Iñaki Miranda’s evocative artwork is superbly suited to Kittredge’s twisted imagination. The impudent characters are exceptionally rendered and easily distinguishable, their facial expressions both subtle and expressive as the story demands. Miranda includes several legitimately terrifying splash pages that give full reign to the horror-blanched phantasmagoria. Dynamic layouts and slick coloring deftly capture the story’s gothic ambiance. Much of the plot unfurls at a disoriented pace, courtesy of the chaotic paneling and illusory visuals that tell Kittredge's story in a way that's innovative and strangely seductive.
Kittredge brings a sure touch to Eve's character, dramatizing her internal monologues with angst and razor-sharp sass. There’s a voluptuous grace to Eve in spite of her pale visage and headstrong demeanor. She’s passionate and unapologetic, and seems dead-set on upending her family’s sordid history. Eve Coffin is a total babe, albeit lonely and directionless, who lives fastidiously through the most recklessly negligent version of herself.
Kittredge's plotting is perhaps too ambitious for the title’s meager page count. In attempting to illuminate Eve’s current dilemma with regards to her ancestors' long-standing involvement in witchcraft, the execution comes off a bit muddled at times, but the loose-wheeled timeline ultimately succeeds in building intrigue. As Volume 1 draws to a close, readers get the sense that there are many as-of-yet unseen elements, but Kittredge appears to know where the story is headed. Coffin Hill is refreshingly original and peopled with unconventional heroes brilliantly flawed and even more unsettling for that.
Well-concerned parents, take heed: Coffin Hill contains mature content that may not be suited to immature and developing minds. There’s some brutal violence, strong language, and a little bit with the nudity. Only “young-at-heart” readers need apply.