Sixteen Screams For Halloween: Day 15 (Nameless)

One last non-traditional spooky scream before the end of Halloween. Wild. I say non-traditional because I am not a comics critic. I know some very good comics critics, one of whom asked very nicely for me to cover this comic. So here we are, covering it. It's even a Grant Morrison joint! They're a well-regarded and interesting comic creator! ...Whose works I have hardly touched. Seriously, it was Arkham Asylum one time ages ago and then this. That should not reflect poorly on their large body of intriguing and varied work. As I said, I am not a comics critic. I just have to pretend to be one for three paragraphs to get this thing out, and I'm already a third of the way there. THE GIFT OF RAMBLING AND INTRODUCTION, Y'ALL! With that in mind, let's see if we can find some interesting and actually relevant things to say about the six-issue comic series Nameless.

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It's a bleak, ultra-violent, at times nihilist piece of comic. That's something. Reading the first issue, I was thrown right into the deep end. There's some sort of dream diving, and dudes with fish heads, and a Nameless one and a veiled lady and a key. I have no idea what's going on but there's murders and a weird magic phrase and then our nameless guy gets contracted to go to the MOON. Also some of the shop fronts in issue 1 were mirrored. Okay, hang on. There's mirror bullshit and we're going to the god damned moon? When did Grant Morrison get on my brand of bullshit and can I get some advice on how to mainline this shit? Why are we on the moon? Because there's an ancient asteroid that's going to end the world and drive us all mad that we gotta get into and stop. I doubt this is an inspiration, but the comic gave me Dead Space vibes in places. A whole bunch of space body horror with lots of gore and madness and things infesting astronauts. Let me say it plainly, in case you seek this out: this comic goes hard as hell with the violence. I didn't content warning the post since I'm not going into detail and I will have found the safest image for the thing I can, but holy fuck this comic goes places.

Like deep into the line between dream, reality, hallucination, and madness-induced dream by a dark god from space. I didn't exactly bounce off this comic, but also there's a lot tinging under the surface that could be analyzed... if one were a comics critic. I am not, though, so I'm grasping at straws to make something of this. The last half of the comic is some wild shit where you're not sure what's really happening or not. It almost feels like the final two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a deep dive happening inside one nameless person's head as they deal with their traumas and repressed memories and what "really happened", in as much as the comic can be said to have really happened. It's a fascinating book that demands at least a re-read with the knowledge of its end bits in mind, if not several more to appreciate any deeper clues or symbolism within. There's meat on the bone here, is what I'm saying... but as I am not a comics critic, it's not my plate of meat to carve into. I'm just here for the appetizer course, so to speak, but now we've made it to the end and it's about time for Halloween. The spooky night approaches! Candy! Spooky songs! Kids knocking on my door! And, of course... the finale of the marathon.

Boo.