Review - Sink #1 (@ComixTribe)

"Glasgow, Scotland...the greatest city in the world."

A city at night is much different than that same city during the day. There are different crowds moving to and fro, different venues open and the time of day. At night, there are a lot more individuals content with causing harm and using the cover of darkness to do so are such people in Sink #1 from Comix Tribe. The issue is written by John Lees, illustrated by Alex Cormack and lettered by Colin Bell.

Allan is stuck in Glasgow after dark. What sorts of horrors await him on an extended commute? Will it be everything and the kitchen Sink?

Lees pitches Allan as a the focal point for the story and its his naivety that makes the rest of the story so scary. Allan's familiarity with "his" town is dramatically undercut by the fact that there are individuals in it he never really gave a second thought to and Lees runs the story through that refined point of view. Glasgow is presented as both a vibrant hotspot for youths and for those with more nefarious intentions, the latter of which makes the issue truly terrifying. Lees is great at making urban legend portion of the book feels well-thought out by emphasizing the potential horrors in everyday life, but there's a pretty jarring shift in the book's tone and pacing about halfway through that was a little odd. For a brief moment it feels as if Lees is changing Sink #1 to be something of a superhero comic before switching it back to being a book about the evils hiding in the shadows.

Cormack's artwork in Sink #1 particularly grimy and gritty. The approach is a perfect complement to Lees' story, as it essentially identifies terrors by giving them faces and very, very angry mannerisms. The way he renders Glasgows lulls the reader into a false sense of security as the quiet that accompanies a town late at night is quickly subverted for evil to cause a ruckus. The appearance of Mr. Dig is a pretty big gut punch of sorts to the reader, in that he doesn't really look like someone you'd expect to encounter on the streets. Essentially, Cormack excels at presenting the reader with visuals that somehow both make them feel comfortable and uneasy at the same time.

The premise of Sink #1 is pretty interesting as it taps into a sense that some people don't know their towns nearly as well as they think they do. Allan is quick to brag about how Glasgow is his town, but there's a lot to it that even he has become blind to. Lees' script is well thought out and progresses quite nicely, giving the reader plenty to be scared of. Cormack's illustrations are equally as terrifying, relying on harsh linework to accentuate the negative parts of a city at night. Sink #1 is pretty ambitious in what it's going for and is left somewhat vague in terms of what that goal actually is, but it works.

Sink #1 is available now.