This second issue of Róisín Dubh from Irish indie publisher Atomic Diner Comics dives back into the undead slaying action. However, while this issue does feature an engaging vampire slaying heroine, Maura McHugh’s story also presents incisive commentary on the 19th c Ireland of its setting, the status of women of the period, along with a nod or two to the mythology buffs out there. This all combines to make an impressive story – and it is early days yet.
The interior page story summary brings any latecomers to the book up to speed. Róisín Sheridan was travelling with her parents through the Irish countryside when their carriage was attacked by a monstrous creature. Thomas and Anna Sheridan were horribly murdered, their daughter forced to witness their deaths, with her own fate seemingly sealed. Instead Róisín finds herself swept up into an age-old conflict between gods and ancient magic, chosen to hunt down the fiend Abhartach. As a Neamh-Mharbh, effectively a Gaelic version of the classical vampire, the monster is only vulnerable to a sword of Yew wood and each of his victims are forced to serve him as thralls. Róisín’s first task is to kill her own parents a second time.
Róisín is divided between two worlds. Appointed as the champion of Irish deities, she is accompanied by a shape-shifting talking bird named Fainche, who disguises itself as a brooch when others are in the vicinity, and is given a magic cloak to help her in her monster-slaying quest. However, her surviving family mansplain her unusual behavior away as being caused by her fragile female nature.
McHugh’s script cleverly makes use of these juxtapositions within this supernatural intrusion into 19th c Ireland. Whereas brother Charles is privileged due to his gender, Róisín’s interests in a career on the stage and equality between the sexes are dismissed as being the result of parental indulgence. The hero of this story is entirely powerless within her society. There is a particularly condescending description of her as a ‘New Woman’ by the Honourable Mr Justice Butler – and this right by her parent’s graveside. It is made abundantly clear that her independent spirit is regarded as freakish, whereas Charles and Butler joke together that the rights of women are unlikely to ever interfere with their job prospects.
The funeral scene itself is the unquestioned highlight of the issue. Artist Stephen Byrne beautifully captures the isolation of the grieving Róisín, staring upward into the sky at free-flying birds while the hands of well-wishers grope at her, depicted in a series of inset panels. She is earthbound, trapped by her sadness, and even the supernatural Fainche is unable to give her any solace, admitting that it has no idea what waits after death. This is all powerfully delivered by the team of writer and artist. There is even a disturbing hint that Róisín is not all that different from the mind-controlled victims of her enemy.
I am numb inside sometimes, I think I am dead but my body has not realized. Only one word beats in my head anymore. Abhartach.
It is not all sadness and misery though. Fainche is already an amusing companion for Róisín – its sarcastic asides not a million miles away from Neil Gaiman’s Matthew the Raven. Justice Butler and Charles’ casual chauvinism is devastating, but they also come across as laughably smug. Then there’s the appearance of two stable horses named Othello and Desdemona – that’s one for the Shakespeare fans. Or Róisín’s protest “I NEVER faint“.
This is an excellent second issue to a very promising supernatural horror series, a fine addition to Robert Curley‘s growing Atomic Diner Comics stable.
Tags: Atomic Diner Comics, comic booked, Emmet OCuana, horror, Irish mythology, Maura McHugh, Róisín Dubh, Stephen Byrne, Supernatural, vampires
About the Author
Written by Emmet OCuana
What Next?
Digg itSave This Page
Subscribe to ComicBooked
Related Articles