BOOKLIST (STARRED) — It's the kind of statement that never leads to good times: “I tell people I lost my arm in the War. Even my wife doesn't know the truth.” So begins this well-oiled terror machine that combines the tightest of plots, the darkest of shadings, and a heaping handful of aw-hell-no scares. Twelve-year-old viola prodigy Jack hops a train from 1916 New York to Chicago to find his long-lost pop. What he finds instead is a best friend (or more?) named Samantha, who helps Jack scrounge up more dough to continue the search. Unfortunately, they also meet a tall, centuries-old fellow masquerading as a salesman, who, when he happens upon someone dripping with the sweet juices of big dreams, likes to remove his false teeth, bare his fangs, and gnaw them to their bones. Ignorant, Jack hits the road with the man, setting off a Robert Johnson-like yarn of success versus soul-selling. Futaki uses panels to chop the man into segments representing his dual natures, and the colors are smoggy and grim, even in would-be gorgeous panoramas. What'll haunt your nightmares, though, are the moments of capital-H horror, with the wild-eyed madman running straight at you with fangs a-slobberin' and axes a-choppin'. Not for the faint of heart-hell, barely for the hard of heart, either.
For those who believe that violence and gore are the principal hallmarks of an engaging graphic horror story, Tuft and Snyder (Batman; American Vampire) make the case that exemplary storytelling is essential as well. Severed follows the story of Jack Garron, a 12-year old who runs away from home in order to find his father when he discovers the truth about his own identity. What Garron discovers, however, is that as exciting as life on the road can be, it can also be a place of hardship, heartbreak, and, indeed, terror. When Garron crosses paths with a free-spirited girl named Sam, things begin to look up. But when they meet the mysterious Mr. Fisher, things go in a very different direction. What impresses is the sophistication with which Snyder and Tuft manage to develop Jack's relationship with Sam, while also showing how Jack's naïveté must eventually have consequences. Futaki's artwork is exceptional, mixing fine-lined horror aesthetic with homespun characters. Although the story is perhaps not strongest in its climactic moments-when readers must be a bit more conscious of their suspension of disbelief-Severed combines the verbal and the visual to present a haunting story.
