Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
The Vault #3 of 3
Image Comics
Sarkar & Gastonny
The horror mini-series wraps up with a very chilling and bloody issue. Overall, this series has been very entertaining and managed to do many of the things that I want to see in my horror story. The final issue flies by at breakneck speed as the series races to its thrilling conclusion. At only three issues I think this is the perfect length to tell an interesting and concise horror story. I definitely recommend checking this issue and series out.
One of the aspects of a horror story that I want to see is the cast of characters getting butchered. I want to get to know them, start to like them and then watch them get eaten or slashed or ground up. This comic book does that in horrific fashion. One of the concerns with the first issue was that there were too many characters that all seemed to be too similar. This problem is never really dealt with but I still appreciate that I am watching the main cast get killed off when I kind of thought they (at least half of them) were going to survive.
Another element I like in my horror stories is that I don't want the killer to be explained. In John Carpenter's The Thing all we really know is that its something from space. Here is no different. The creature is killing things off for no reason that can be explained. It was buried, it's been awoken and it's angry. That's all I need.
The flip side to this is that the book attempts to explain some of the creature's origins. I wasn't a fan of this. I felt it slowed down the pacing too much just when things were heating up. Also, I wasn't crazy that the character that knew the most about the creature never appeared in the book.
The artwork is tremendous in this book. The attention to detail is perfect for the tone of the book. I loved how one of the characters was found in the exact position that the creature was found in at the end of the first comic book. I think the creature looked menacing in all the right places and there was enough that occurred off panel to keep the reader guessing. There is definitely some gruesome material in here and it's a huge credit to the art.
The Vault is a niche type of comic book to be sure. It's horror almost at slasher flick level. Nothing truly gets resolved in this series which means things are set up for a sequel. I enjoyed this enough that I know I am all in for a follow-up series. If you like slasher flicks or science fiction horror then this is the series for you.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
