Hello, my friends. The time of spooks, chills and the otherworldly is upon us as the spirits of old begin to take flight, while several others are pepping with costumes, decorations and the eventual candy distribution. Despite the thrills that this particular time of year can bring, there are some lost souls that’re weighed down by unfinished vengeance and are looking to get back at those whose families have done them wrong so many years ago. On that note, I present to you our featured review series called…
For this string of comic book-based examinations, we’ll be delving into a decades-later follow-up to a particular independent film. Released on February 8, 1980, and originally distributed by the now-defunct Avco Embassy Pictures, this movie was directed by John Carpenter who also wrote the film alongside producer Debra Hill while he also provided the musical score as well. Made on a $1.1 million budget, it went on to successfully rake in over $21 million during its theatrical run despite initially receiving a mixed reception from critics and has gone on to become a cult classic over the years. The film follows a group of people who live in the California town of Antonio Bay which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary, but they’ll soon discover that this particular municipality came to be due to certain people back in 1880 that’ve caused Blake and his crew to become shipwrecked during a dense fog and ultimately drowned before the opposing people plunged them of their gold in order for the town to be created. Now with the centennial looming large, Blake and his supernatural cohorts have returned to enact their vengeance upon six certain people who’re ancestors to their murderers. While the movie would eventually receive a critically panned remake in 2005, this initial film would largely remain without any new content until the 2020s rolled around with its comic book license getting acquired from a fairly new publisher.
Published in March 2024, this initial issue along with the rest of this four-part mini-series was published by the Nashville-based Sumerian Comics. Initially opening in 2020, they’ve had several original comics while dabbling into licensed comic fare from not only musical acts such as The Offspring, Bad Omens and Sleep Token just to name a few, but they’ve also had comic-based contributions to a few media franchises such as The Crow, American Psycho and Hotline Miami. As for our featured tale, Steve Ekstrom serves as our featured writer while Marco Foderà is in charge of the artwork. So, what kind of new terror will emerge from the eerie mist and cause our featured cast of characters to deal with it? Let’s make our way through the sinister & chilling steam in order to find out.
We open at the Wayne household where Andrew and his wife named Jamie are about to head out to his mother’s house as he calls out to their daughter named Casey yet is unaware that she had already left the house 15 minutes ago. He then asks if their 15-year-old girl will be okay, to which Jamie says that she’s probably going through her hormonal period. Andrew admits that his misses their child, yet she assures him that their kid will be back before he knows it as he proceeds to head out.
We then shift to a different set of characters as the female driver nearly collides with a woman biker while she and her comrades listen to Antonio Bay’s local radio station known as KAB. When her male partner named Travis Mathew asks her if she finds it weird that she’s returning to this town for the first time, the woman named Annie Castle says that it’s difficult for her to properly explain since her parents met in Antonio Bay exactly 42 years ago (thus establishing that this story takes place in 2022) within “some pretty disturbing circumstances”. Their teammate named Kirk Pearce then reminds her that while they’re already aware of why she started her own podcast called “Supernatural Nation”, they never actually talked about what exactly happened in the town. Annie then explains that it’s because of her parents never telling her about it, to which she then brings up that her mother Elizabeth nearly explained it to her yet ultimately hesitated before her father Nick passed away and she never broached the subject ever again. The team ultimately arrives at the rental cabin as Kirk runs inside to use the bathroom while Travis continues his conversation with Annie. She mentions that Stevie Wayne & her son Andy had both known her parents and that they both agreed to be interviewed on her podcast, to which Travis then brings up how “urban legends and early tube videos” helped make Antonio Bay become a tourist attraction back in 2002. They then find it strange that the Waynes had never left before Annie says that there’s a different family line with over a century of history within the Bay Area that greatly interests her called the Machen Family. Specifically, she explains that they came back to the bay two decades after the passing of their 100-year-old patriarch named John Machen whose body was found the morning after the fateful night that both deceased Captain Blake and the infamous fog rolled into the town. When Travis asks her who is John Machen, Annie simply tells him that no one knows. She then mentions that she’s found an old personal journal on an online archive that belonged to a woman named Samantha Loomis. Within those past pages, it explained how in 1880 shortly before Blake and his Leper Colony boarded the Elizabeth Dane before they were all murdered by the six conspirators who hailed from the port outpost that would ultimately become Antonio Bay, there was a small naked boy wandering through the woods who was discovered by a widower named Charles Machen. He fancied Samantha due to her helping him take care of the kid before they ultimately married each other while they named their boy John. Kirk and Travis then ask her how this connects to Blake, the Elizabeth Dane and the “supernatural fog”, she says that the initial cloud was first recorded on the night prior to Charles coming across John over at a landmark called the “Ninth Mark” a.k.a. “Devil’s Mark”. With her explanation complete, she tells her team to help her unpack their gear before promising to share the rest of Loomis’ journal after dinner.
Over at the lighthouse that serves as the KAB AM 1340 radio station, Stevie is playing songs for the local listeners before she gets a call from Bennett Trammer as she tells him that she’ll be receiving some fresh scallops from her son fairly soon. Just then, he mentions that his cell phone is starting to overheat before she also feels the same abnormal temperature increase from her device as well. Suddenly, a mysterious and shadowy face appears on her cell’s screen before it surprisingly explodes. Later, Andrew arrives at his mother’s house late due to him having to purchase some new gauges for a commercial fishing vessel. She then receives her scallops before she then mentions that she’ll be getting a new cell phone since her old one had just blown up, much to his shock. She assures her son that she’s fine, yet he mentions how it’s “a weird coincidence” since every last gauge on the boat completely froze over and became busted last night. She then thinks that maybe the infamous fog may have done it, yet he says that moisture is constantly able to get inside the gauges and freeze them while the supernatural incident last occurred so long ago. While he assures his mother that he’s not afraid of any fog, she reminds him that they both nearly lost their lives on that fateful night before she tells him that if the infamous fog ever rolls in again, he should drive off with his family.
Meanwhile, Bennett arrives at the rental cabin that he owns in order to check up on Annie and her team. The guys then say that they would like to record their podcast at the old church, to which Trammer tells them that he’ll help them get in due to him having the key to its padlock along with the fact that he used to do some odd jobs for the late Father Patrick Malone. After her team says that they can be ready to go in 20 minutes, Bennett then learns from Annie that Nick is her father and that he passed away years ago before Trammer also mentions that while he didn’t know too much of her dad, he used to have some drinks with him along with Annie’s mother Elizabeth. When Annie asks her where she & her team can meet him, Bennett says that they can head to the antique store since they’ll need to meet up with its owner and her husband. Later, they arrive at the Trading Company antique store before they come across its owner Jamie. Annie then brings up Samantha’s digitally preserved journal, to which Jamie says that she and her husband were the ones who uploaded it before Andrew pops up in order to help guide them to the church. However, Bennett won’t be joining them since he’s currently dating Stevie. Annie then asks Jamie how Loomis’ journal relates to her paternal grandfather John Machen, yet Jamie says that she never met him due to him passing on before she was even born and that her parents spoke fondly of him. Andy then brings up how he used to tell ghost stories and that he personally enjoyed sitting by the bonfires over at Spivey Point while Machen shared creepy tales about their town despite his near-century old age. Annie then brings up how potentially according to the journal, John managed to live at least for 103 years and was around for both fog incidents before Andrew mentions that his body was discovered on April 23 due to him passing away in his home from natural causes. Annie’s team then ask if said cause was ever confirmed by a coroner, yet Andy says that it’s starting to get late and that they can follow him up to the church right after he helps his wife close the shop down in preparation for some inclement weather. Fortunately, he does tell them that he’ll answer their question there. Annie then asks if her grandfather is somehow connected to the otherworldly curse that looms over Antonio Bay before revealing that she didn’t read much of Samantha’s journal. Travis then spots a picture of John when he was much younger before Annie says that her parents along with her little brother returned to the town back in 2002 and that she would visit them during her breaks from college, to which she then mentions that it was how she met Andrew. Andy then says that they must depart for the church, especially since it doesn’t have power.
During the sunsetting drive, Travis and Kirk mention their belief that Andrew is potentially hiding something about John Machen from his wife especially after the former noticed Andy’s change of demeanor once he mentioned that Machen had passed away in his home. Annie then considers if they should bring up the missing persons reports for the surrounding area, to which Pearce adds that the time frame for those reports do correspond with John’s old age. Ultimately, Castle decides against it since it would ruin their investigation if they suggested that a beloved local figure was somehow a “serial killer of wayward fishermen and drifters”. They ultimately arrive at the old church as Andrew says that the abandoned building was padlocked due to various vagrants and drifters arriving at it over the years in order to use it as their own rest stop. As they head inside, Travis comments on how well-kept the place is despite being abandoned for over four decades, yet Annie does confirm the bodily smells that now hangs over it. She then asks Andy why the building isn’t condemned, to which he says that Bennett has been maintaining it over the years in order to honor Father Malone. She then asks him how much from that infamous night does he remember, to which he simply tells her that her parents saved his life and that he doesn’t want to delve too much into it. Annie and her team then tell him that they understand since it was a traumatizing experience, yet they’ve all seen things that defy explanation. Andrew then says that he doesn’t like talking about it since he’s worried that Captain Blake and his undead crew of the Elizabeth Dane will arrive back at Spivey Fog within their eerie fog. From there, we have a quick dialogue-free moment from the film where Blake showed up at his childhood home and murdered his babysitter named Mrs. Korbitz before the undead captain broke into his room. Fortunately, Nick was able to save him before they and Elizabeth managed to drive off in time.
We then shift to nighttime where Annie and her team have done a fair amount of searching throughout the building, but Andy now has to lock it up due to the increasing wind. Despite her getting to locate the place within the stone wall where Patrick Malone’s journal was initially hidden, Andrew says that it went missing after Father Malone was found decapitated. With both parties preparing to head back to town before the squalls begin, he then calls up his wife to see if she’s gotten to talk to their daughter. Over at the seaside Wayne residence, Casey gets a text message from her mother telling her that she has to return home. Even though Stevie offers to drive her there, Casey assures her that she’ll be fine as she begins to bike her way back. She then passes by a mysterious figure as Issue 1 ends with said being standing outside the Wayne house just as a thunderstorm arrives. From there, the book concludes with a half-dozen journal entries from Samantha Loomis’ journal dated April 9-28, 1880. In her entries, she mentions how she’s all alone and hasn’t been able to sleep well ever since her mother passed away. Not to mention, she’s been tending to her family farm and feels like she’s being watched. During her conversation with Antonio Bay Magistrate Nathaniel Yocum, he assures her that the land that makes up their new town is mainly unsettled due to its rocky landscape. Fortunately, she’s able to combat her loneliness by talking to the fairly nearby farmer Charles Machen who’s been very kind to her despite his own wife passing away. During one particularly accompanying walk back towards her residence, she learns his first name while starting to develop some deep feelings towards him. A few days would pass before he stopped by in order to provide her with some eggs and extra salt from his possession, to which she would make some dinner out of said items before they share some lively conversation that helps to fend off her loneliness. She would eventually hear about some outsiders looking to move into and settle within Antonio Bay, yet it partially worries her since she’s lived on her current land for the last sixteen years ever since her family settled there while she was a little girl. While she would consider packing up and leaving for San Francisco, she couldn’t bring it onto herself to disrespect her father’s wishes for her to maintain their land. Then came the fateful day when Charles would discover the naked boy within a thicket as she describes the child as a well-fed person with ginger hair that was also a mute. Despite her father being weary of ginger-haired people as either a blessing or curse, she ultimately agrees to watch over the kid while Charles would bring some furs into town. Later on, they would name the boy John after Charles’ “favorite uncle” and that she’s become fond of the kid. However, her house cat named Dottie doesn’t like the child and even delivered a deep scratch onto him after he tried to pet her. Despite getting a bloody wound, John would naively chuckle and lick his own blood causing her to reprimand him while feeling bad about it. Samantha would eventually get informed from Charles about how he took John into town and that they noticed several townsfolk shifting through the wrecked remains of the Elizabeth Dane since it had caught fire. She mentioned that was full of lepers that were trying to find a secluded spot to establish their colony and that their captain actually offered to purchase a parcel of land that was adjacent to hers, yet Charles turned it down in order to prevent the lepers from infecting both her and the child. She then mentions that while Charles was amused by the wrecked site, John said that it “Smells like dinner”. From there, the journal entries end with her not being sure what to make of this especially since she wasn’t informed about the boat being burned.
Overall, this was a peculiarly interesting start to a decades-later follow-up. While it was initially confusing who the new characters were until their names were finally presented somewhat deep into the book, their own setups along with how they connect to the movie’s core cast ultimately proved to be well-handled. Annie’s occupation allows her to revisit the town where her parents met and (somewhat hurriedly if you’ve watched the movie) became a pairing that would ultimately unite in wedded matrimony. Through her, we also begin to delve into more of Antonio Bay’s historical past as through the described and presented journal entry, it sets up a mystery as to how John Machen will ultimately become intertwined within the town’s troubled past. Sticking with our characters, it was definitely a good move to allow a grown-up Andrew to become more prevalent this time around. While his child self from the film was crucial with being present for Mr. Machen’s seaside ghost stories along with him finding a key piece of the Elizabeth Dane to ultimately give to his mother, his cinematic usefulness ultimately declined since he became a little bratty before he was rescued by Nick and Elizabeth in order to establish his connection to the rest of its core characters during the climactic fright fest. When we get to him as an adult, he’s a married man who has a teenage daughter who should become more prevalent as this series goes on. He does some jobs around town, yet is also somewhat traumatized by what he went through during the movie’s climax and is clearly doing his part to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. His wife Annie gets some decent development due to her being a new character for this series and it leaves some room for both her and Jamie to get further fleshed out as we progress across this narrative. Finally, we have the elderly yet possibly budding couple of Stevie Wayne and Bennett Trammer. Stevie is still plugging away at Antonio Bay’s local radio station, though one wonders why it hasn’t seen any kind of growth in staff or even minor expansion over the decades especially after the town had an increase in tourism during the early 2000s. Either way, she continues to be of sound mind while also experiencing a similar moment of a sudden supernatural burst upon an electronic device at her radio station. She’s also careful as ever when it comes to the potentially-returning danger that looms over the town, since she wants her son to immediately depart with his family should it ever come back. There’s not much in terms of standout development for her aside from the fact that she’s actually dating a character who was incredibly minor during the movie. Bennett Tramer was portrayed by John Carpenter who went uncredited and was shown as someone who helped Father Malone carry some noble tasks for him. For this comic, he’s shown to have maintained an honorable watch over the now-closed church while also renting out a cabin to people. It should make for an interesting progression as to how he’ll be handled moving forward within this story, yet it was another neat idea to take someone that wasn’t too important within the film and give them something to do this time around. In terms of pacing, it does a nice job of establishing our central players, gives a vague hint as to what possible terror awaits them and further flesh out Antonio Bay’s past in a way that connects to both the movie along with the present situation. The artwork does have a little sketchiness to serve its horror-themed tale, yet still has plenty of professional detail to help make our main players nicely coherent along with a good color palette to fit the narrative ranging from the time of day to the mood of a scene. All-in-all, this inaugural chapter was pretty light on the chilling scares, yet helped set the table for what’s to come with a good mixture of some new characters alongside a few familiar faces in order to provide us with the potential to see how they’ll be integrated as the featured terror ultimately comes to pass. It’s a nice foundational start and worth checking out if you’ve seen the movie, so give it a read in order to discover how effective it’s able to roll in onto your own personal tastes.
The Fog (created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill) is owned by StudioCanal, Amazon MGM Studios, Sony Pictures Television, Lionsgate Films and Scream Factory.
