Someone is abducting people in Bastion City - but who and why? Two estranged brothers find out their comatose sister is the next target of this mysterious creep and must unite to stop him!
S. Craig Zahler is quite the polymath - in addition to being a filmmaker, novelist and musician, he’s also a comics creator now?! He wrote and drew his first comic, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr Divinus, which is impressive enough for someone who’s accomplished in so many other creative fields, but it turns out that it’s a disappointingly underwhelming read.
Parts of the story are interesting like Tribus, the bespectacled creep who’s trying to abduct the comatose sister, in the interrogation scene, and the body horror stuff added some supernatural spice to the narrative. The story is as gory as you’d expect, if you’re familiar with Zahler’s previous work, and has his unique style of dialogue.
The comic isn’t poorly drawn but it’s also not that appealing to look at. I didn’t mind it, and I actually expected far worse when I heard that Zahler both wrote and drew it, but it’s not gonna blow anyone’s hair back; it’s functional for the story. If you know your indie comics, think Joe Daly or early Charles Burns but rougher.
Generally though the story is mediocre for the most part. The Driscolls are a dull bunch, Divinus’ origin story is uninspired and the ending/what the book builds to/what it’s about - meh. It’s just a generic cartoony mad scientist trope - that’s really all this comic boils down to.
Good on Zahler for accomplishing one of his life’s goals but Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr Divinus is still a weak and forgettable horror story. Hopefully his next - he’s going to keep making comics - will be more exciting and compelling than what this one turned out to be.
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