The Lonesome Hunters #1
There are always ways to reintroduce classic plot stories making them. Sometimes is not the idea that you have, but the way that you execute it because it doesn’t end up landing the way you wanted it to be. In that particular regard, a recent example of that can be the first issue of The Lonesome Hunters, a fascinating read about the classic tropes of supernatural and horror comics, but done in a very clever and fun manner, which is all that matters in storytelling as a whole.
The story starts one hundred years ago in the past where Howard, a young kid, is following his father and a group of men who are acting as “demon hunters”. They storm down a place where a group of people are doing a “demonic ritual” to summon a demon deer… or what seems to be a regular deer. Regardless, a battle ensues and everybody dies except young Howard and the deer, with the latter sparing the kid’s life in the process.
We go back to the present, now Howard is a bitter old man and the only thing he still has from his past is a sword he claims to be “magical” and “stolen from a creature as old as time itself”. There isn’t much to Howard’s life after all these years of regrets, but that seems to change when he meets a young girl named Lupe.
Lupe has stolen her uncle’s watch and sneaks into Howard’s building, where both happen to live in. As Howard discovers through talking with Lupe, the girl’s uncle has been possessed by a magpie and the old man has to get his weapons together to face a greater evil than what he has ever seen before.
They are eventually attacked by these evil creatures. They engage in battle and escape while trying to come up with ways to deal with this ancient evil, which sets the plot going for the forthcoming subjects and the comic as a whole.
A fascinating premise and it is delivered in quite a powerful fashion, with a proper background story and a good understanding of what makes these characters tick, not to mention the potential they have many future stories, which is also very important. One of those delightful surprises in the current comic book story.
