Gutwrencher #1 (of 3) – Review

By: Shannon Eric Denton (writer/co-creator), Keith Giffen & Steve Niles (story/co-creator), Anthony Hightower (artist), Carlos Badilla (colorist)

By the look of the cover, the one probably will assume that this book is more of a parody on the slasher genre. The guy has a menacing look in his eyes, but the rest of him is kind is somewhat silly, with the mummy bandages and rubber band in hand. Well, that assumption went away pretty fast.

Here’s the story: There is a 10 year high school reunion. One of the guys who didn’t get invited picks up a log with some weird carvings while hiking with his girlfriend. He gets all bloody from some nails imbedded in the log and suddenly goes crazy, slashing his girlfriend’s throat! He then decides to kill all his old classmates at the reunion for some unknown reason. It seems he’s possessed, but his old self still remains in him. Oh, and for a possessed guy he has a nice dry sense of humor.

Gutwrencher has the makings of those teenage slasher flicks (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street), but with more mature young people – not teenagers. That’s a change. Like I said, I was expecting something worse, but what I got is pretty good. However, I don’t like how the artist drew people’s faces – some of them look like middle aged people or even borderline old. I’m on the fence with this one, but I’ll try the next issue to see what happens. (Grade: C+ )

-Daniel Yanez

A Second Opinion

Okay there’s this waterlogged, piece of bark floating in the river. It calls to this guy who accidentally gets bloody from the nails on it. The guy kills his girlfriend and becomes the red neck Blair Witch. Because he didn’t get invited to his high school reunion he decides to murder them all. Wow, what a sore loser. Looks like someone never grew up.

I disagree with Daniel on the art here. I think it’s the best thing going for this book and the characters look completely within the realm of 26-28 year olds. I also disagree with Daniel on the story. It sucks.

For the characters who aren’t cursed, deranged murders, the dialogue they share with each other is pointless. It’s real dialogue though, but it’s all mindless, useless conversations people hear and forget in two seconds. You know what I’m talking about: the stuff people say just to avoid uncomfortable silences. This isn’t meaningful dialogue and it doesn’t show us who these people are. So with people like this, why the hell would anyone even fathom going to their reunion in the first place? I’d consider it a blessing to not be invited!

And the end of this issue? Can you say Nightmare on Elm Street 2? Sorry, but this book was completely intolerable. And yes, it’s worse than Halloween: Night Dance.

Thanks for letting me borrow your copy, Daniel. You saved me $3.50 (which is already overpriced as it is). (Grade: F)

– J. Montes