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The Closet #3
- Writer:
- James Tynion IV
- Artist:
- Gavin Fullerton
- Letterer:
- Tom Napolitano
- Cover Artist:
- Gavin Fullerton
- Publisher:
- Image Comics
- Price:
- 3.99
- Release Date:
- 2022-08-03
- Colorist:
- Chris O'Halloran
A closet is a space people use to store their personal belongings, clothes, and, more often than not, their very intimate secrets. As they pile up, secrets have a tendency to spill out into the open and wreak havoc on a seemingly peaceful life. Image Comics' limited series, The Closet, has been quietly telling an existential family horror centering around a father and his son, who both want to leave their past nightmares behind. Written by James Tynion IV with artwork from Gavin Fullerton and Chris O'Halloran and lettering by Tom Napolitano, The Closet #3 details a man's restlessness for a new start as he neglects his basic duties as a father.
The Closet #3 continues the father-son cross-country move from New York to Portland in a progressively somber mood, shining a light on a critical issue that has plagued the series from the start. The book opens with Thom and his son, Jamie, taking a pitstop at a motel, with the former slipping out at night to smoke cigarettes and drink beer. A stranger approaches him for a smoke, which snowballs into a conversation about life, regrets, and secrets. It is mostly Thom who does the talking or venting, and he still remains true to his irresponsible self. As they finally enter Portland, it will be interesting to see whether the journey has changed Thom for the better or not.
The first two issues explained the "what" of the plot, criticizing Thom's actions from his wife's point of view and then a friend's. The Closet #3 finally explains the "why," using a stranger's perspective to look in from the outside, leaving no excuses for lingering biases. Through Thom's own admission, it becomes clear as daylight that no one other than Thom himself is to blame for everything that has happened to him, including what his son is facing every night. The dialogue-heavy approach, a recurring aspect of the series, binds the storytelling together and acts as a device to convey a wide range of feelings. Writer James Tynion IV douses the book in horror; for the protagonist, it is existential, while for the son, it is demonic. As for the reader, who gets the complete picture, it is psychological, for nothing begets horror like reality.
Another signature aspect of the book is the encroaching darkness that shrouds the characters from all sides, perhaps as an allusion to their own predicaments. Artist Gavin Fullerton makes the dialogue scenes serene, using close-up shots of the characters as they smoke and chat away under a starry sky. The silent ones are, however, the most striking panels in the book, resonating the innermost anguish and pains with more gravitas than any spoken word can convey. Colorist Chris O'Halloran deftly uses the shadows to his cause, lighting up only select portions of the panels for emphasis. One may even argue that the positioning of the colors brings out the horror even more than any amount of inking in the book.
The Closet #3 delves deeper into its examination of Thom's character concerning his family and masterfully executes the conflicted husband trope. Tynion intentionally keeps the monster's existence ambiguous, instead focusing on the guilt and trepidations that have led to the creation of the shadow, giving readers a better picture of the past. Thom feels safe enough to speak his mind to the stranger, a self-absorbed rambling that ends with a painful truth: some things have a habit of metastasizing if not dealt with properly. Therein lies the fallacies of the protagonist, making the ending of The Closet #3 nothing more than a resounding tragedy.