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The Dark Room
The hunt for a camera containing an undeveloped photo of the face of true evil threatens to wipe out New York City one chilly autumn evening. Doune Mahoney is the curator of a private collection of extremely dangerous cursed objects, and her night’s about to go to hell. Werewolves, secret societies, blessed animals, cursed objects, and more, in a fantasy horror comedy from X-Men and Deadpool writer GERRY DUGGAN, your new favorite artist SCOTT BUONCRISTIANO, and color artist extraordinaire TAMRA BONVILLAIN. Take a deep dive into THE DARK ROOM, a world the creators will be returning to for many years. Includes the first appearance of your new favorite characters, including Walt, the dancing bones of Times Square, and his blessed boom box.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 27, 2022
I bought this book simply because I thought the cover was cool and Gerry Duggan wrote it. The gamble paid off as I had a blast with this. We start in the past where we see this camera where all the pictures taken that get developed show horrifying images. We then fast forward to the present where an odd man shows up to an antique collector to try to hire her to find this camera. So after this introduction, I was like, ok this has a nice creepy vibe and this may be on to something. Them boom!! Vampires, ancient evil, ghosts, a talking skeleton, a werewolf, elves and all kinds of crazy just get thrown at you and I was here for it. This was a large cup of fun with free refills. Duggan had the dialogue clicking and some funny lines being tossed around all through here. Seems like the artist was a newcomer but it didn’t show as his pencils looked great and the masterful Tamra Bonvillain had the colors popping something really nice. Plus with the end, seems like this ain’t over. I’ll definitely be checking out another volume.
July 29, 2022
The Dark Room was decently rad, but the team behind it is what elevates it to a wholesomely rad story.
The comic itself is relatively simple. Three chapters tell the tale of Dounia Mahoney, a paranormal authority and cursed-object curator in a mythical New York. Alongside her best friend Walt–a neon, dancing skeleton in a red sweatsuit–and ex-boyfriend Aaron, the angry Irish lycanthrope, Dounia evades a devil in search of a cursed camera, whose pictures of the real world always come out as haunted, twisted visions of hell once they process through a dark room.
The world is full of creatures and characters, and is decently well-structured. The tone and charm of the story really carry it through with a well-balanced blend of horror and wit, and the visuals are perfect, from character design to environments and setting.
I suppose my biggest critique of the story is that the stakes don't feel entirely present, namely because they're kept vague to the reader by not fully knowing the enemy until the last page, when the story is essentially wrapped-up. The pace of the comic is very fast, and feels like something you'd expect out of a larger, issue-heavy series. And while the comic team does plan to continue telling tales in the Dark Room's world, this one feels like it gives you a lot of information and visuals, and not as much focus on the story at-hand. Leaving me, at least, somewhat unfulfilled.
That would probably leave me at a 3/5, but the last two pages of the book admittedly bumped it up to a four.
In it, author Gerry Duggan mourns and remembers his late friend Neil Mahoney, who introduced Duggan to illustrator Scott Buoncristiano before his passing, essentially getting this project started. I have a bias, of course, as a comic writer myself, with my own team of incredibly talented illustrators and colorists. Nevertheless, Duggan's message about comic-writing–that collaborative process of creative inspiration, love, and childlike joy at playing pretend in the hope of making the reader *feel* something–is one I sincerely relate to.
Looking back on the story with that message in mind... I don't know, it just makes it better. You see the people, the team, the love behind this project, and it makes it all the sweeter.
I look forward to seeing more out of the Dark Room, and I only hope that the story goes deeper, more complex, and longer in its next incarnations.
This twisted tale gets a heartfelt 4 outta' 5.
The comic itself is relatively simple. Three chapters tell the tale of Dounia Mahoney, a paranormal authority and cursed-object curator in a mythical New York. Alongside her best friend Walt–a neon, dancing skeleton in a red sweatsuit–and ex-boyfriend Aaron, the angry Irish lycanthrope, Dounia evades a devil in search of a cursed camera, whose pictures of the real world always come out as haunted, twisted visions of hell once they process through a dark room.
The world is full of creatures and characters, and is decently well-structured. The tone and charm of the story really carry it through with a well-balanced blend of horror and wit, and the visuals are perfect, from character design to environments and setting.
I suppose my biggest critique of the story is that the stakes don't feel entirely present, namely because they're kept vague to the reader by not fully knowing the enemy until the last page, when the story is essentially wrapped-up. The pace of the comic is very fast, and feels like something you'd expect out of a larger, issue-heavy series. And while the comic team does plan to continue telling tales in the Dark Room's world, this one feels like it gives you a lot of information and visuals, and not as much focus on the story at-hand. Leaving me, at least, somewhat unfulfilled.
That would probably leave me at a 3/5, but the last two pages of the book admittedly bumped it up to a four.
In it, author Gerry Duggan mourns and remembers his late friend Neil Mahoney, who introduced Duggan to illustrator Scott Buoncristiano before his passing, essentially getting this project started. I have a bias, of course, as a comic writer myself, with my own team of incredibly talented illustrators and colorists. Nevertheless, Duggan's message about comic-writing–that collaborative process of creative inspiration, love, and childlike joy at playing pretend in the hope of making the reader *feel* something–is one I sincerely relate to.
Looking back on the story with that message in mind... I don't know, it just makes it better. You see the people, the team, the love behind this project, and it makes it all the sweeter.
I look forward to seeing more out of the Dark Room, and I only hope that the story goes deeper, more complex, and longer in its next incarnations.
This twisted tale gets a heartfelt 4 outta' 5.
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May 31, 2022I was beginning to come around to Gerry Duggan's writing after Marauders and Savage Avengers, but maybe he has some kind of reverse-Bendis thing going on, where he only excels on team books, because this is a mess. The basic idea of a cursed camera is intriguing, but even that becomes confused before the first chapter is out, right down to simple details like its chronology, where we're shown it in America for the Depression but then told it made its way from the old world around the middle of the 20th century. As for its effect...does it just act as a sort of spooky analogue Snapchat filter, or does it really bring out the evil in anything it photographs? Why are the pictures it takes of terrible historical events less Picture of Dorian Gray-esque than those it takes of just regular people? Has any of this been thought through at all? Wherever you look, there's another poor storytelling choice. Some of them are endemic ones; this is hardly the first Image book to show us a fantastical world as it's disrupted, meaning that it's hard for the reader to feel any firm sense of what's business as usual for these entities, and what is new and strange to them. Which, yes, is perhaps hard to avoid when the alternative might seem like a run-through of familiar secret supernatural underworld tropes, but surely the way around that is to give us characters we care about so that we're already glad to spend time with them before things kick off and the plot proper begins. Instead, we have a lead whose apparently significant heterochromia is often obscured by the oddly blobby colouring, and who actively pisses people off before asking them for a favour, a trait which doesn't make any more sense just because it's mentioned in the dialogue. Although any flaws in the dialogue are overshadowed by those in the captions, which give us some choice examples of telling not showing: if the voiceover has to tell the reader "The Duke was not prone to exaggeration and his warning made Douna's blood run cold", that feels a lot like an admission that the preceding scene hasn't conveyed the information it should have done, and maybe fixing that would be better than papering over it with something so clumsily functional? Yes, once the story picks up some speed it manages the odd nice little twist on familiar material, but even there some of them have been beaten to the punch by other recent riffs on this territory*, and they remain outweighed by the stuff which does that frequent Duggan failing of barrelling enthusiastically down the most obvious route proceedings could possibly take. And at the end of that route there's a final twist which managed to make me sigh for three different reasons simultaneously, which almost comes back around to being perversely impressive.
*SPOILERS: The disco elves were undoubtedly the best thing in here, but it's bad luck to have an undead breakdancer as a key supporting character right after Wellington Paranormal did the same idea.
(Edelweiss ARC)
*SPOILERS: The disco elves were undoubtedly the best thing in here, but it's bad luck to have an undead breakdancer as a key supporting character right after Wellington Paranormal did the same idea.
(Edelweiss ARC)
May 30, 2022
Well this has some impressive chops, and some really duff beats. Some lass who had received special gifts from her mother, and who has a giant collection of the arcane, is made aware that there is a special camera – an old film apparatus that, whatever or whoever it was pointed to, showed death, destruction, demonic possession and the afterlife and that kind of thing. In trying to scope the story out, she is made aware that someone REALLY wants it, and REALLY wants the effects the photographs can manifest in our existence, and this is where things really fall apart. Her buddy has turned out to be a werewolf, which is fine, her other buddy is a walking skeleton, which is fine, but when they're rescued by disco-worshipping elves, you have to wonder what drugs were employed in the creation of this book. Elvish cocaine, perhaps.
Oh, and yes, these are elves in full-on Studio 54 gear, who haven't been to NYC since the '70s, but who know to mangle personal pronouns, just because. (Actually, that might not survive to the final product, as it's surrounded by two dozen typos, missing words and so on, and even it itself comes and goes, so...) But ignore that, if you can, for it is mere indication of a lot that is wrong here. Early scenes had a remarkable snap – a script that was pared back to the minimum, a fluff- and wool-free zone that just gave you a fast-moving story and nothing else. But with the elves, and certainly with other elements here, there is a flippancy that kind of undoes that immediacy. Does this want to be a succinct genre drama, or does it want to be an arch, humorous adventure?
Well, if it does, it's at odds with itself, for there is nothing but good to be had in the set-up, in the idea of the camera, and in the werewolf's transformation scene. None of that needed whimsy, jokes about Lionel Richie, and the like. You could also say this is a pudding of well-used ideas, with a heck of a lot of it done before – and therefore that the disco elves are welcome in that regard. No, they're still not. If the bonkersness had been reined in, if the curt storytelling had been sustained, any old tropes could have been forgiven and this would have been a powerful little bit of sub-Gaiman entertainment. As it is, it's too loose, too random, and too ill-disciplined. But at least we know what Noel Fielding dressed as Mad Hettie looks like now.
Oh, and yes, these are elves in full-on Studio 54 gear, who haven't been to NYC since the '70s, but who know to mangle personal pronouns, just because. (Actually, that might not survive to the final product, as it's surrounded by two dozen typos, missing words and so on, and even it itself comes and goes, so...) But ignore that, if you can, for it is mere indication of a lot that is wrong here. Early scenes had a remarkable snap – a script that was pared back to the minimum, a fluff- and wool-free zone that just gave you a fast-moving story and nothing else. But with the elves, and certainly with other elements here, there is a flippancy that kind of undoes that immediacy. Does this want to be a succinct genre drama, or does it want to be an arch, humorous adventure?
Well, if it does, it's at odds with itself, for there is nothing but good to be had in the set-up, in the idea of the camera, and in the werewolf's transformation scene. None of that needed whimsy, jokes about Lionel Richie, and the like. You could also say this is a pudding of well-used ideas, with a heck of a lot of it done before – and therefore that the disco elves are welcome in that regard. No, they're still not. If the bonkersness had been reined in, if the curt storytelling had been sustained, any old tropes could have been forgiven and this would have been a powerful little bit of sub-Gaiman entertainment. As it is, it's too loose, too random, and too ill-disciplined. But at least we know what Noel Fielding dressed as Mad Hettie looks like now.
July 23, 2024
The art by Scott Buonchristiano is what led me to pick up this supernatural horror story about a very special camera. It opens with a prelude set during the Great Depression in 1936, which sets up the idea of a camera whose photos reveal great evil. Fast forward to present-day New York, where Douina Mahoney is introduced as a kind of hunter/curator of relics and cursed items. A strange man appears, offering her a huge sum to track down the camera. All is not quite as it seems though, as she has some kind of second sight that allows her to see the true nature of her client.
What follows is a series of really nicely done set pieces, starting with a visit to a literal underground bar for supernatural entities accompanied by her sidekick, who is a tracksuit-wearing, breakdancing skeleton. There's a big, bloody fight involving her lycanthrope ex and a bunch of vampires, and then the arrival of a Rolls Royce bearing 1970s disco-bedecked elves and a trip to the fae world. When the art is depicting the supernatural elements, it's really great, super-detailed, gritty, and fun -- but it's oddly flat when in the regular world and depicting humans. The contrast is jarring at times, even from panel to panel. The story is fine, but I can't say I really understood the purpose of the camera, or why the villain was trying to find it. Nonetheless, worth a read if you like supernatural comics with some great artwork!
What follows is a series of really nicely done set pieces, starting with a visit to a literal underground bar for supernatural entities accompanied by her sidekick, who is a tracksuit-wearing, breakdancing skeleton. There's a big, bloody fight involving her lycanthrope ex and a bunch of vampires, and then the arrival of a Rolls Royce bearing 1970s disco-bedecked elves and a trip to the fae world. When the art is depicting the supernatural elements, it's really great, super-detailed, gritty, and fun -- but it's oddly flat when in the regular world and depicting humans. The contrast is jarring at times, even from panel to panel. The story is fine, but I can't say I really understood the purpose of the camera, or why the villain was trying to find it. Nonetheless, worth a read if you like supernatural comics with some great artwork!
January 9, 2023
This was a “risk” for me because I am not really familiar with Gerry Duggan’s work, but I’m always looking to find new writers (new for me) and delve into their work. This quickly proved to be one of my favorite reads in a long time. It perfectly blends the eery and macabre with genuinely funny and fantastical moments, the likes of which I haven’t experienced outside of Hellboy or other Mignola works; there were a few moments where I actually laughed out loud.
The characters feel authentic, regardless of how wondrously absurd they were! My personal favorite is Walt and I want nothing but good for him! The world there’s characters are in feels lived in and doesn’t do what a lot of comics, and other media, do with exposition dumps. The world exists and we are just jumping in on a point of these characters’ lives. No need to over-explain things, it just is.
I love the artwork and it all feels very frenetic. The colors are vibrant and, at times, contrast nicely with the dark world and setting. The character designs are all very unique and fun; they reveal little things about the characters. My favorites were one of the main character's designs and a group of characters that dress and live life as if it is still a certain era of American culture. Brilliant.
All in all, I loved this book tremendously and I NEED more, please. It was such a pleasant surprise and I highly recommend it!
The characters feel authentic, regardless of how wondrously absurd they were! My personal favorite is Walt and I want nothing but good for him! The world there’s characters are in feels lived in and doesn’t do what a lot of comics, and other media, do with exposition dumps. The world exists and we are just jumping in on a point of these characters’ lives. No need to over-explain things, it just is.
I love the artwork and it all feels very frenetic. The colors are vibrant and, at times, contrast nicely with the dark world and setting. The character designs are all very unique and fun; they reveal little things about the characters. My favorites were one of the main character's designs and a group of characters that dress and live life as if it is still a certain era of American culture. Brilliant.
All in all, I loved this book tremendously and I NEED more, please. It was such a pleasant surprise and I highly recommend it!
June 9, 2022
The MacGuffin of this dark fantasy story is a camera that shows scenes not as they appear to the photographer, but in a way that reflects the blessings or curses of the photographic subject. There’s a demon looking for the camera, and he’s focused his search on Dounia, proprietress of a cabinet of curiosity style collection of usual objects. Dounia is a plucky young woman who’s well-connected within the supernatural community.
The setting of the story is a New York that’s a bit like the London of Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” book, which is to say normal on the surface but overlapped with a city of mythic and magic beings.
The art is clearly drawn and uses color boldly, particularly given the ghastly subject matter. Different color palettes are used for different realms, and the cast does move around among the homes of folkloric and fantastical beings. I liked the color and don’t think it detracted from the macabre content, and – it should be noted – that the tone always retains a level of humor and lightheartedness.
I enjoyed reading this comic, and thought the art was skillfully rendered. If you’re interested in dark fantasy graphic novels, you might want to give it a look.
The setting of the story is a New York that’s a bit like the London of Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” book, which is to say normal on the surface but overlapped with a city of mythic and magic beings.
The art is clearly drawn and uses color boldly, particularly given the ghastly subject matter. Different color palettes are used for different realms, and the cast does move around among the homes of folkloric and fantastical beings. I liked the color and don’t think it detracted from the macabre content, and – it should be noted – that the tone always retains a level of humor and lightheartedness.
I enjoyed reading this comic, and thought the art was skillfully rendered. If you’re interested in dark fantasy graphic novels, you might want to give it a look.
November 12, 2022
This! Was! So! Much! Fun!
"The Dark Room" is set in a contemporary fantasy world where our protagonist, Dounia Mahoney, is a private curator living in New York City. When a mysterious (and clearly demonic) stranger visits her asking after a cursed camera, she embarks on a quest to find the camera before he does.
Dounia's journey takes her to elf kingdoms, secret clubs for the supernatural, and even the bottom of the Hudson River with her collection of charming companions. First, there's Walt, a skeleton that used to be a boy who made extra cash dancing in Times Square. Then, there's her werewolf sometimes-boyfriend Aaron, who shares an equal fascination with historical objects. Not to mention a wide range of supernatural friends they meet up with on the way!
While some people might find the plot simplistic, the characters were all super charming, the world building was kickass, and the character designers were interesting and lovely. Honestly, this story reminded me a lot of Zatanna and "Hellblazer" stories with less grit and more heart, so if you liked those you should definitely check this one out!!
"The Dark Room" is set in a contemporary fantasy world where our protagonist, Dounia Mahoney, is a private curator living in New York City. When a mysterious (and clearly demonic) stranger visits her asking after a cursed camera, she embarks on a quest to find the camera before he does.
Dounia's journey takes her to elf kingdoms, secret clubs for the supernatural, and even the bottom of the Hudson River with her collection of charming companions. First, there's Walt, a skeleton that used to be a boy who made extra cash dancing in Times Square. Then, there's her werewolf sometimes-boyfriend Aaron, who shares an equal fascination with historical objects. Not to mention a wide range of supernatural friends they meet up with on the way!
While some people might find the plot simplistic, the characters were all super charming, the world building was kickass, and the character designers were interesting and lovely. Honestly, this story reminded me a lot of Zatanna and "Hellblazer" stories with less grit and more heart, so if you liked those you should definitely check this one out!!
March 14, 2023
The hook to The Dark Room was strong - a creepy old camera takes some horrifying images. I thought it was simply going to be a horror-romp involving the camera, but it quickly becomes a bit of a tedious world-building exercise. There are tons of great ideas in Duggan's The Dark Room, but not all of it completely gelled for me. The cast of characters is fun and most of the set up is pretty interesting, but the story felt overstuffed with ideas. I usually give Image titles flak for taking perfectly good graphic novels and hacking them into serialized chunks for no reason, but I do think this might be the case where serialization could have ironed out some of the pacing issues I had with it. It's a fun read for sure, but the culmination of this volume feels less satisfying and ending with a promise for more doesn't necessarily sound all that appealing to me.
July 13, 2024
The Dark Room mixes humor with horror, and blends various supernatural fantasy mythologies into a rich narrative universe. A cool premise built around a camera that sees the "truth" lurking beneath the object targeted by its lens. Written by Gerry Duggan, with artwork by Scott Buoncristiano and colorist Tamra Bonvillain, The Dark Room features Dounia Mahoney, a modern-day private curator who specializes in the collection of cursed objects. Mahoney, like her mother before her, has the supernatural ability to see the hidden magical creatures of the world. It's a fun book, unlike anything else on the stands, and I'm really looking forward to seeing further stories set in this world.
September 16, 2023
A lot of my experience with Gerry Duggan comes from X-Men, and I'm very hot and cold on him there. The same sentiment is how I view this creator owned book, as it's a creepy horror fantasy race for a muguffin, a cursed camera that shows horrific things in its photos. While the basic premise strikes me as Once and Future but with horror, it isn't as tightly written, a few lines stuck out to me where I just rolled my eyes, like Duggan is trying to be hip and with it. The actual plot itself is fine, but I never felt strongly for the characters.
August 9, 2022
I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss
This started out pretty well - interesting cast of characters and some good art and character designs - but I feel like it was a lot of build up and then just rushed through the confrontation with the villain at the end in a way that didn't feel very satisfying to me personally. Overall a decent read but probably could have benefitted from being spread out over two volumes instead of one.
This started out pretty well - interesting cast of characters and some good art and character designs - but I feel like it was a lot of build up and then just rushed through the confrontation with the villain at the end in a way that didn't feel very satisfying to me personally. Overall a decent read but probably could have benefitted from being spread out over two volumes instead of one.
October 15, 2022
This was a neat little graphic novel I came up on at the library. It had an amazing cover and looked like it was right up my alley. There's a ton of potential with a story like this. I'm not quite sure if it lived up to it in this volume but it was fun and the art was perfect. I'm very interested in more stories about Dounia and her friends. Hope there's more coming!
October 23, 2022
Compelling story of evil demon attempting to recover a cursed camera in order to destroy the world. The alternate New York populated with the dead and the cursed was an interesting backdrop for this story. I liked the characters.
The story did feel a bit rushed. I think the story of how Dounia's mother acquired the camera would be very interesting.
The story did feel a bit rushed. I think the story of how Dounia's mother acquired the camera would be very interesting.
June 23, 2023
A friend lent this to me. Usually I don't like horror stories, but this comic was a good mix of magical worlds, macabre humor, and campy lines. The concept is really fresh, but the pace of the plot is rushed.
October 21, 2023
An Omnidog book club selection that I have only heard good things about this year. A relatively simple tale with vampires, werewolves, elves, a breakdancing skeleton that leaves the reader looking forward to more stories in this world. This was a quick weekend read that I enjoyed.
February 16, 2024
Ik not sure I'd go back to it.
The first chapter was very good, but chapters two and three were definitely a dip. I love the idea of an occult investigator/curator but it didn't work out here.
I prefer Rucka's Black Magick.
Art and colours are good.
The first chapter was very good, but chapters two and three were definitely a dip. I love the idea of an occult investigator/curator but it didn't work out here.
I prefer Rucka's Black Magick.
Art and colours are good.
July 1, 2022
I loved this! Dark, zany, and twisted, I couldn't put it down.
August 28, 2022
A fun story that is a fast read and features stunnung artwork.
October 4, 2022
A beautiful looking and insanely fun mash up of horror, crime, comedy, and fantasy.
November 7, 2022
сюжет - обычное мамбо-джамбо про фэнтезийных персонажей в нашей реальности. но нарисовано великолепно. что есть, то есть.
November 17, 2022
This was fucking excellent.
January 27, 2023
I hope there will be more issues.
February 12, 2023
Gorgeous little horror romp
March 4, 2023
Hoping we get more with this crew - it feels unfinished and I have a lot of questions. I want to deep dive and get lost in this world.
April 29, 2024
Fun! Great short horror/fantasy graphic novel.
June 29, 2024
A fun NYC based horror book with great art. Wished it was a little longer!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews