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Bone Orchard: The Passageway
- Writer:
- Jeff Lemire
- Artist:
- Andrea Sorrentino
- Letterer:
- Steve Wands
- Cover Artist:
- Andrea Sorrentino
- Publisher:
- Image Comics
- Price:
- 17.99
- Release Date:
- 2022-06-15
- Colorist:
- Dave Stewart
Ever since their collaboration on DC's 2013 Green Arrow, Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino have been one of the most dynamic duos in contemporary comics. Their 2018 horror series Gideon Falls and their 2021 sci-fi limitied series Primordial are both as formally inventive as they are entertaining. Now, they are reuniting to create The Bone Orchard Mythos -- a series of interconnected, stand-alone horror stories set in a shared universe. Bone Orchard: The Passageway, the first graphic novel in the series which will be released on Wednesday, June 15, is a beautifully crafted, haunting story.
Bone Orchard: The Passageway begins when geologist John Reed arrives at a lighthouse on an isolated island to study a mysterious hole that has suddenly appeared. John struggles with dreams about his painful past as he and Sally, the island's sole inhabitant, investigate the hole. Soon, it becomes clear that something remarkably strange and potentially dangerous is afoot.
Lemire does a great job establishing a lonely, ominous tone early on in Bone Orchard: The Passageway. John is struggling with seasickness when he arrives at the island. From the very beginning, he has an adverse reaction to the landscape. As the story progresses, this tension escalates until the island becomes an aggressive presence. Lemire cultivates a sense of dread by easing the reader into the comic's central mystery as John becomes increasingly uncomfortable. His ability to establish a clear tone and compelling characters with a relatively small amount of dialogue or narration is especially impressive. Lemire's condensed writing style helps underscore just how lonely and eerily quiet the island is.
The minimalistic nature of Lemire's writing leaves a lot of the storytelling heavy lifting to Sorrentino, whose gorgeous art leads the reader through the surreal world of Bone Orchard: The Passageway. Every element of each page seems to be designed to complement the narrative. His depictions of the hole in the island are particularly striking. When John and Sally are peering into the pit, Sorrentino fills the two-page spread with recurring spiral patterns to create a sense of depth and to give the audience a better understanding of the characters' perspectives. These spirals are a constant visual theme throughout the graphic novel. At one point, Sorrentino even arranges a landscape to create the golden ratio. But even at his most experimental, he continues to push the story forward.
Legendary colorist Dave Stewart helps hammer home the brooding tone of Bone Orchard: The Passageway. He utilizes a grey and blue color palette to capture the drab and dreary atmosphere of the island. But he highlights important moments with a bold, bright red that stands out without distracting from Sorrentino's layouts.
Each time these two artists collaborate, they manage to exceed expectations. Between Sorrentino's unforgettable artwork and Lemire's frightening narrative, Bone Orchard: The Passageway will haunt readers long after they've finished reading it. The end of John Reed's expedition brings his story to a satisfying conclusion while introducing the audience to a frightening universe full of bizarre, beautiful stories. Lemire and Sorrentino have crafted a wonderful introduction to their Bone Orchard Mythos that also functions as a stand-alone graphic novel.
Bone Orchard: The Passageway goes on sale Wednesday, June 15.