A ravenous beast dominating the wilderness can become a weapon, in the hands of another predator: theman. The sadistic and scary game started with Scream – In the Dark continues on the pages of the brand new and unpublished horror graphic novel signed by Luca Conca And Gloria Ciapponi, Scream – Offspring. Even more biting and cruel, the work first published by saldaPress in the necklace Master is an immersion in the chilling unknown made up of mysterious beasts and events hidden by a merciless nature, through a creepy manhunt to take your breath away. In Scream – Offspring some of the questions that arose with the first volume are answered, while other mysteries are unlocked. Will you be ready?
No mercy
A shed in the middle of dense and uncultivated nature. Two men setting the carcass of one on fire horrible and unknown beast: the same one to which they feed other men, lured towards a trap from which it is not possible to escape. Among the shadows of the trees, one of their umpteenth victims observes them. A woman who managed to escape, despite her injuries, to get her own vendetta.
In a scenario that seems not to be made for the human presencea merciless and chilling hunt is consummated, while numerous questions pile up around the events hidden by a overwhelming and indifferent nature: what are those frightening beasts capable of swallowing a whole man? Who is that individual who appears to be the exact copy of one of the many devoured victims? But above all, how is it possible escape such a horror?
Scream – Offspring: there is no end to the horror
As announced in our review of Scream – In the Dark, the project by Luca Conca and Gloria Ciapponi started in 2013 and revived by saldaPresshe finally found a following with the new and hitherto unreleased Scream – Offspring. A continuation that, on the one hand, opens up some glimmer of understandingon the other hand thickens the mystery and horror of the unknown that binds firmly to it, inside light and dark shades that seem made of the same essence of restlessness and one wild and chaotic nature. Here more than in the first volume, it makes her presence felt: dominant and luxuriant, deliberately suffocating in the incisive sign of Concapopulated by creatures that underlie the cruel law of survival offering terrible spectacles to watch helpless.
By clamping down on the few, miserable protagonists of this story, nature becomes their prison and in some cases their grave, perpetuating that sense of claustrophobia which, as already demonstrated in Scream – In the Darkthe two authors manage to convey with skill. Scream – Offspring it also enriches this Bucolic picture of horror of a more massive and threatening presence of those mysterious hungry creatures introduced in the first volume, and of which it had been suggested there was a “litter”. Here we know better the physical detailswe can understand more effectively their scope and realize that their number, in thehostile environment narrated, it is more extended than we thought. A seemingly endless horror, amplified by the union of theirs predatory and devious nature to that of another predator who has appropriated this habitat, namely man.
In the hands of man, the frightening and unknown beast conceived by the authors becomes in turn weapona means of overpowering other individuals: homo homini lupusin a perverse hunt that here also takes on the characteristics of an activity carried out for profit, as well as for the sole pleasure of dismembering and killing. It is through the actions of the criminal protagonists that in Scream – Offspring are more perceptible (perhaps even more than in Scream – In the Dark) the cruelty and ruthlessnessindifference in the face of fear, the overwhelming feeling of pure evilancestral and inexorable, together with the desire to see a sort of emerge providential justice to put an end to such barbarism. Scream – Offspring is a real statement: the only real hungry beast is manfor fun or for revenge, not just for the mere need to survive, moved by primordial instincts more subtle than animalistic ones. Transmitting a similar sense of horror through a horror graphic novel is not a simple operation, but in the hands of Luca Conca and Gloria Ciapponi it seems to become a malleable material, capable of restoring a concentration of horror, horror and aversion.
Why read Scream – Offspring
Conca and Ciapponi’s work is evidently the result of one fruitful synergy which could sometimes make us think of the product of a single author. There Ciapponi’s horrific vision manifests itself in the illustrations by Conca through wide and dense boardsin which restlessness and cold terror pile up. The sign (made in pen) is once again scratched and scratchypushed towards theharsh incision of the chaos of nature, chilling in its imperiousness that surrounds and overwhelms any human presence. From the depiction of her, which she often favors full boards or splash pages to underline the overwhelming poweralmost shines through a kind of chilling silencewhich acts as a counterpoint to the dialogues of the protagonists. More than in the first volume, Scream – Offspring in fact leaves one wider space for the wordwith revealing exchanges between the characters who in certain passages make way for another type of horror, more subtle and latent, that ofinexplicable, and almost revealing the will of the authors of wanting to tell morereveal more details.
As well as Scream – Offspring you need too many explanations: once again, Luca Conca and Gloria Ciapponi forge a graphic novel evocativegive her eloquent images, which reveal a slightly different trend from that present in the previous volume. In fact, it seems that those have been reduced bituminous shady areas that in Scream – In the Dark plunged the reader into hypnotic and disturbing dark abysses (“In the dark”, in fact), preferring here illustrations that “breathe” more, larger and brighter but no less claustrophobicThis trend is also demonstrated by the choice of the cover illustration.
In conclusion, Scream – Offspring proves to be the worthy follow-up to Scream – In the Dark And it does not betray its horrifying naturebut succeeds indeed in touch unthinkable shores of fear. A horror graphic novel in which the extent of a terrible threat emerges most, setting a direction that we hope will continue with a possible sequel. If it is true that the first, lucky work of the two authors did not need a sequel to be defined a complete jobit’s also true that Scream – Offspring it shows how much we readers actually do we needed itwidening the frame and expanding a horror picture that hides so much, from wanting to investigate again and again. Certainly the echo of this “scream” it won’t go out so quickly.
