Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night (Vertigo/DC)

Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night

Vertigo/DC

Written by Caitlin Kittredge; Art by Inaki Miranda

Jun 27, 2014 DC Comics By Ryan E.C. Hamm

Coffin Hill, the new creator-owned series from horror/fantasy writer Caitlin Kittredge and artist Inaki Miranda (Fairest, Judge Dredd), is one of those comics that has more ideas than it knows what to do with. The protagonist is Eve Coffin (yes, really), the latest witch in a long line of witches tracing their roots to the Salem witch trials. Bad things happen to Eve and, by extension, her friends. The story jumps from one era to another without much warning, never really giving readers enough characterization to care about Eve. Why is she so rebellious? What makes her parents particularly repellent? Why did she become a cop? All of these questions are hinted at, but never answered. Instead, we’re left with a story high in melodrama (Eve is almost burned alive by the meth-head brother of her friend’s boyfriend! Eve later sleeps with that same boyfriend though they sort of hate each other! Eve has…powers? Sort of?) and light on actual drama. There are some good ideas here—Coffin Hill is loaded with great art and creepy atmosphere—but most of them are too half-baked to tell a satisfying story. (www.vertigocomics.com/comics/coffin-hill-2013)

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