Creator: Mike Dubisch
Company: Strange Fear

I’ve been a huge fan of Lovecraftian-style horror since, well, I first read H.P. Lovecraft’s work, so when I run into comics that really portray that feeling of confusion and the unknown I get excited. Those kinds of books are few and far between, with most creators seemingly under the impression that all it takes to make something Lovecraftian is a tentacle-faced monster or use of the Necronomicon. Mike Dubisch gets it, though, and to prove it he takes the Lovecraftian idea that man is cosmically insignificant and a pawn for unknowable powers and mixes it with the claustrophobic setting of a ship in space, a la Alien.

Weirdling jumps back and forth between the lives of Dr. Anna Mandretta, groundbreaking Victorean surgeon, and Anna Mandretta, conscript on a Terran Republic space cruiser fighting a war against the alien Xax in the unknown future. The jumps can be a little confusing, but they are handled very well, and really, they are intended to be somewhat confusing, as they are confusing the hell out of Anna too. She lays down to sleep under the lucidream machine, expecting a blissful night’s sleep, and gets nightmares about her Victorian self, infected patients, and the risen dead. But Dubisch’s skillful scripting keeps you from ever really being sure which of them is truly dreaming- is Victorian Anna imagining a nightmare future, or is future Anna imagining a nightmare past? Or are both somehow real, connected by a supernatural force awaiting rebirth? As both Annas struggle to retain their grasp on reality and discover what is happening, Dubisch drags you along for the ride, entranced but as the strangeness continues to unfold.

Dubisch also more than proves his skill as an artist, both in an amazingly engaging detailed style of linework that kept my eyes busy throughout and in a strong sense of storytelling that took a book like this and made following the flow easy. That let me spend more time thinking about what I was reading, and less time thinking about how I was reading it, and in an intelligent book like this, it’s a godsend. Switching from Victorian era to futuristic, from human interaction to mazing creatures, Dubisch also shows an ability to do a variety of things well at the same time, and I think he’s someone to watch.

Fans of more intellectual horror should definitely check this out. I’m not sure if Diamond is carrying it, but it can be ordered online. Check out Dubisch’s page for more info on how to get it.