Reviews

Plunge (Hill House Comics) by Joe Hill

waisball's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

spaceman5000's review

4.0

The author admits that this was his take on John Carpenter's "The Thing" and that's pretty obvious and not at all a bad thing. A really gross and fun story that even had a little bit of our old pal Cthulhu thrown in for good measure! I enjoyed it for sure.

nigellicus's review

adventurous dark emotional tense

5.0

The Carpenter/Lovecraft influences are a bit hard to miss, but if they somehow go over your head, Hill makes it explicit in his afterword. This gorgeous looking (Stuart Immonene!) tight little horror epic about a small salvage outfit run by three brothers sneaking into a disputed area of the Arctic Circle at the behest of a corporation whose missing ship just came inexplicably online after decades of silence, certainly manages the Carpenter, but as is often the case the Lovecraft is a big squidy monster with lots of eyes. Before that, however, it generates its own chilly atmosphere and Hill is ruthless when it comes to his characters, however lovable. What's notable, perhaps is a trait from good ol' Stephen King himself in deploying some 'magic' objects that both afflict and assist the protagonists. All in all fun and effective, hope there's a sequel, since it certainly ends with a hook. 

svanteazs's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

anaisdai30's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

ldickol's review

3.0

Good, creepy art, interesting plot.

kaje's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

5.0

amber_lea84's review

4.0

There was a lot I liked about this, and the art is 5/5, but I do feel like the plot was a little lacking in places. There were so many excellent elements to this story that were really working for me, but they weren't tied together as well as I would have liked. Like what is the ingot? Where did it come from? And all the math stuff seemed like it could have mattered more because it was creepy at first and then didn't really go anywhere. With more planning some of these details could have added way more depth to the story.

I know I often complain that Joe Hill's long stories are too long and his short stories are too short, but this is another one I could have easily kept reading. I could have spent more time with the characters and the lore of this universe, and I definitely would have loved more creepy monsters. I think there was a lot of potential here, so it's a shame it's just one volume and he didn't spend more time fleshing it out.

em_julien's review

3.25

Almost didn't finish it but I'm glad I did. It had a slow start that didn't capture  my attention at first, but I like deep sea horror so I wanted to give it more of a chance. I loved how the story progressed as well as the art. 

bryce_is_a_librarian's review

4.0

Definitely the best of the Hill House books. Uses a few too many short cuts and stereotypes for me to give it the full five stars but it's kind of like an Apocalypse era Carpenter film with the aesthetics of a The Fog era Carpenter, and that my friends is some good shit.

Better than Basket Of Heads by a far sight.