Comic Review: Clive Barker's Seduth #1

Horror and comics have had a long and profitable partnership and it is not uncommon for many of our great horror fiction writers to return to the medium that inspired them in their youth. After all, a comic is a great vehicle for that staple of horror storytelling: The Weird Tale. British author Clive Barker is no stranger to the comics and his new comic Seduth makes good use of the medium and is produced in old-school 3-D as well.



Seduth is a compact tale of a man who possesses a diamond which contains a malignant darkness, and what happens when it is unleashed upon him and the world at large when it is physically cracked open. The story fits nicely in the Barker body of work and explores his common themes of hidden worlds and body horror. For a short piece it covers a lot of scope, particualarly with the introduction of Sanguin Crystalis, a plague that is released from the opened diamond that reveals itself in crystaline growths in the blood and on the body.

Seduth is presented in 3-D and retail copies will be packaged with 3-D glasses. This has the effect of muting the color palette somewhat but it actually pays off in dividends in the last third of the comic, which features some truly trippy visuals that put the 3-D to good use. Seduth is a great treat for fans of Clive Barker and anyone who likes their horror surreal and disturbing.

Patrick Garone
Staff Reviewer