I Hate This Place #6 REVIEW: New arc, new problem, same gritty, horrifyingly incredible art style.
Written by: Kyle Starks, Art by: Artyom Topilin, Colours by: Lee Loughridge, Letters by: Pat Brosseau.
Trudy’s family have managed to gather information as to her whereabouts and now they are leaving a trail of bodies as they hunt her down, determined to get her back to the compound. The religious zealots that they are, they don’t believe in her lifestyle and want to bring her back to “the flock where she belongs”. Meanwhile, Trudy and Gabby are still trying to manage the farm with some helping hands. With all sorts of demons descending upon them during the night, and now a bloody thirty religious family right on their doorstep. Trudy and Gabby will now have to manage more than the farm or the cost will be enormous.
We are back with the crazy farm house couple. At the end of the last arc, they had realised that they need to just get used to everything while Trudy’s family were hunting her down. I loved the start to this book, it basically picks up where we left off. The family are torturing people and it doesn’t shy away from violence (not that this series ever has). We get into the action very quickly with some spiders coming slightly out of the woods, meaning the ladies have to explain to the farmhands why it’s so important to follow the rules. One thing that makes this scene interesting is the development of Gabby. She started the series not being comfortable with violence and guns. This was even a point of contention between the couple. Now after everything they have been through, she’s the one to run in first against the spiders. This kind of character growth shows how much care writer Kyle Starks is taking over the story. She’s clearly not as bothered by the guns now as Trudy instinctively picks up a shotgun. This was a great introduction to the second arc and it even gives a bit of a backstory to Trudy; showing that she rebels against her religious family. This doesn’t go down well with her father, who tortures her by making her watch as they dismember a couple. They punished the couple for wanting to leave the colony. This only intensifies the present day as we don’t know what will happen to Trudy or Gabby as they plan on bringing Trudy back.
As has been the case from the first issue, it doesn’t shy away from blood, which really helps how terrifying the situation is. Artyom Topilin does an incredible job of showing the gore making it horrifying for the reader not just the characters.
I’m steadily getting used to the art style, and I love the gritty approach. It feels like a classic tale. Although I’m still not sure about the proportion sizes. It seems to work with this book as a lot of the character are larger than life both mentally and physically. Yet it still does fit right with me at how the heads are not in proportion to the rest of the body. That is a small gripe that I have, which doesn’t affect how good the book is.
Overall, it’s a great start to the second issue and I’m excited to see where this goes. My favourite character is still Trudy (I’m sure everyone feels that way) so I’m glad we are getting to see more of her backstory. This violent issue starts at 100 mph and doesn’t let up and I’m here for it. I give it 4 POPs out of 5 as I still can’t understand the proportion but a solid start to the second arc of this fun horror, action, adventure series.
I Hate This Place issue 6 was released by Image Comics on 1st March from your Local Comic Shop as well as Comixology
Andrew Carr was blessed to grow up watching the animated series of Batman, X-Men, and his favorite, Spider-Man.This started his dive into the comics world, which resulted in meeting his amazing cosplaying wife Imogen. They live in England with their Sinister Six dogs.