Henry and Butcher #2
Story by Gonzalo Ventura
Art and Letters by Martin Blanco
Pit Bros. Productions
Cover price: $2.99; Available now

Henry White is still locked away in the “New Sunshine” Mental Health Hospital, and still has no idea why he is here or how he got there. What he does know is that he is being given electrical shock therapy, and it is slowly destroying his mind. It is during one of these sessions that he hallucinates that his dog Butcher is in the boxing ring with him, and trying to knock his mind back into consciousness. After being returned to his cell that night, Henry is given a new revelation when security officer Jack busts into his room.

Beaten to within an inch of his life, Jack recounts to Henry a horrible rumor and story that has been whispered around corridors by the inmates, that of three apparitions with an insatiable lust for violence. One of them, is a giant of a man wearing a woman’s sundress. The next has the facial features resembling a cat and has a thirst for warm blood. The final one looks like a demented ventriloquist’s doll from hell itself. Jack goes on to say that he didn’t believe any of it, until he was attacked! As Jack dies in Henry’s arms, Henry renews his vow to get out and get some answers, but that is of course before the rest of the guards arrive.

After a strong and inquisitive first issue, series writer Gonzalo Ventura skirts the dangerous edge of J.J. Abrams’ home turf as he piles additional layers of mystery, new mysterious characters, and bizarre dream sequences without giving up any concrete information that the reader can grab a hold of and use as a way to decipher what is happening. It is frustrating to say the least, though some may thrive on the challenge to guess what is actually happening.

The introduction of the three apparitions gives artist Martin Blanco an opportunity to get beyond page after page of thugs and goons. His demonic dummy bears a striking resemblance to the doll in Dario Argento’s Deep Red or a twisted version of Howdy Doody. Its half-page appearance is more dreadful than anything else in the book, and this includes a harrowing splash page of electrolysis and a very one-sided nightstick fight.

Henry And Butcher is currently walking a very fine line of infectious mystery and rage-inducing confusion. While page per page it has a steady flow with plenty of fisticuffs and bloodletting to the gritty feel in the forefront, the overall story is just going round and round in a circle. If we are meant to be made dizzy, Ventura is so far doing a bang-up job. But eventually something has to give. Perhaps the clues are to be found in the cryptic death certificate of Jack that is the final page of the issue, and that there is a very dark cloud hanging over the “sunshine” of the hospital.

Available at IndyPlanet.