Winnebago Graveyard

Winnebago Graveyard #1-4

by Steve Niles, Alison Sampson (Artist)

An American family’s vacation turns into a nightmare when they stop in a small California town. Before they know what’s happening, they've become the targets of the town’s citizens who just happen to be Satanists. What comes next is a wild ride of terror and survival. Collects WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD # 1-4.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2017

About the author

STEVE NILES is one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back to prominence, and was recently named by Fangoria magazine as one of it's "13 rising talents who promise to keep us terrified for the next 25 years."

Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.

Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful. I expect better from Steve Niles. A boring version of the cliched trope of the stranded family running for their life as seen in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, etc. The art is a swirling mess of awfulness. I couldn't tell what was happening on half the pages and this is a mostly visual comic with very few words.

Received an advanced copy from Image and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Donovan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yet another shallow horror story of “when visitors get stranded.” The artwork was indecipherable at best. See the movie “Hot Fuzz” for a better execution of this concept.

[Abbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh. This is total shite, to be frank.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is an homage to campy horror movies like Race with the Devil but, unfortunately, it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. In fact, you are better off just watching the kind of movie this is based on instead of reading this.

The art is pretty chaotic and it's often difficult to tell exactly what is going on. The main heroes were so rushed into the story and underdeveloped that you won't really care if they win or not. The villains were given a paper-thin motivation but it honestly would have worked better If they had just been sacrificing people just for the hell of it (pun intended). But, worst of all, the comic just abruptly ends without any real winding down or closure.

If, like me, you like horror stories about Satanic cults causing trouble, then this quick read might be worth your time. If you choose to skip this, however, you really aren't missing much.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I grabbed this from the library, I had seen the 2.44 average rating it had on Goodreads at the time, but I thought, "It can't be that bad, right? The premise sounds so interesting!" Lol, joke's on me — I flipped open the first page and realized, yeah, it's that bad. I forced myself to trudge through to the end, to see if it ever improved enough to warrant even one more star in my review, but the art is god-awful hideous (in many panels, it looks like someone took candid photos of awkward faces people pull while speaking and then traced over those digital) and the plot is boring and difficult to follow because it's so poorly fleshed out. Yikes!

[Bernadett · Rating 1 out of 5]

i got copy from edelweiss+
the writing was forgettable, the art was dreadful, it was too tacky with gore (without any meaningful dept (learn from the master Ishida Sui) the characters were unlikable the plot was extremely overused and the execution of it all was poorly represented. I would call this a waste of toner in print. 1/5 stars

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually Niles books are good. Dunno wtf happened with this. Went from bad to worse quickly...like an ugly bald cat set on fire and thrown into a clown car full of fat sad clowns.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 3 out of 5]

To celebrate Halloween this year, I watched Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the second time and not only does it remain one of the most terrifying pieces of horror cinema, but the finest example of ambiguous horror as there was never an explanation of why the killers act the way they do. This approach to the genre became a template during the seventies, especially during John Carpenter’s filmography, and one can definitely see the influence in Winnebago Graveyard from Image Comics.

Please click here for my full review.

[Gabrielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Winnebago Graveyard's premise had the capacity to be great. The concept was simple, good horror. The execution? *blows raspberry* Apart from the first few pages, which were decently slow, the pacing throughout all four issues was rushed, and we had zero time to grasp what was happening before that abrupt conclusion. The lack of any decent buildup meant that we weren't able to give a damn about the main characters. I mean, really. How can anyone be expected to care about three people who start running for their lives a mere three pages after you meet them?

The art was cool, I'll give it that. But because of how absurdly rushed this was, the art didn't really lend itself to any kind of storytelling?
Welp.

[Travis Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars at best, story is unoriginal and the art is not very good. This book is your cookie cutter horror story, random tourists stumble on small town only to discover it is run by a satanic cult... That is literally the story with zero originally stemming from that base. I wish I could say the art is good but it really isn't some panels are just terrible and hard to understand. The progression of panels is also kinda wonky. Not much to redeem from this book, I can't say I recommend it at all.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overhyped. Starts out great but then sputters out into an abrupt conclusion. The characters are dull and dim witted, the plot is mostly good, and so is the artwork, though the artists later shy away from their more arresting images from issue 1. Not much can be developed in a four issue series though.

[Chihoe Ho · Rating 2 out of 5]

A basic one-shot that doesn't bring anything new to the graphic horror genre since it's your standard stranded-in-a-spooky-small-town narrative with some gory tropes. There is some tension built up but lands a flat ending. Womp womp, Winnebago Graveyard.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

This sucked. The art, writing, and pacing was horrible. Atrocious. The only redeeming quality for this was that it maybe took me 10 minutes to read/suffer through.

[Wendy Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most of the reviews say: the plot is as thin as a piece of toilet paper, the art is hard to follow, and gee, it's convenient Deacon shows up to help people out.
The essays at the END, however, have a lot of really interesting stuff in them.

[Peter Derk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here’s Pete’s Rule of Comics Greatness:

A good comic is understandable from the text alone. A good comic is also understandable by the images alone. A great comic is understandable from either the text or images alone, and the text and images work together, enhancing each other and enriching each other.

Which means a terrible comic isn’t understandable from the text alone OR the images alone, and when the two come together it doesn’t really help.

The best comics you walk away from feeling like the text and images are perfect for each other, and you can’t imagine a different artist or writer on the book.

Lots of good comics have one or the other: say the art is just okay and the writing is great.

Bad comics are both. Just indecipherable.

Also this had like 5-10 text essays at the end. This trend in comics is no bueno.

Here’s an idea: use the medium to express what you want to express as opposed to using the medium as a delivery vehicle for academic essays. Comics are not the cheese you put around the medicine to get a dog to take it. They can be the cheese AND the medicine.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the worst part of this is I own the book, this is an absolute mess of storytelling. I thought the Steve Niles and Image team up was a recipe for a great book but not in this case. shallow character depth, no consistent arc or a villain worthy of the art or time to read this book. I thought this might be a fun Hills have Eyes storyline but it is not a good book by any means. I normally expect Niles to deliver something interesting and worthy of the time to read but this was sadly not the case, seek out another book and avoid this one.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I swear I already reviewed this. It was OK but not more than that. It read like a storyboard for a TV show or movie that didn't get picked up. A bunch happens way too fast, without any time to build suspense, and then resolves too quickly without much payoff, and then there's a tacked-on "oh but is there more?!" cliffhanger kinda thing. That being said, I would consider reading the further volumes (I think there are 2?) but only if they're free on Comixology or something. I like Steve Niles but... I honestly just don't want to read any more of this bad enough to pay for it.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who else looked at this cover and started humming Keller Williams's "Blazeabago"? *crickets*

There was definitely potential here, and I enjoyed all of the retro Winnebagos, but the execution just didn't cut it. The story just wasn't fully fleshed out, and seemed derivative of a bunch of other horror media. The main female character's facial expressions tended toward the unnecessarily nasty/ugly, for whatever reason.

[KWinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad I read this one during the day. I found some of the panels a little hard to follow, and that threw me out of the story a couple of times. I still don't think I understood what happened to Deacon (or who he was or where he really came from...okay, I didn't understand Deacon). It was truly scary in parts and the whole idea....is not a new one, but terrifying none the less.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niles and Sampson tale of a family stranded in the town of satanists. Harrowingly and horrific.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly terrible. Art was largely incomprehensible and the story basically rips off the movie Race With the Devil. I expect more from Steve Niles.

[Roglin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the art style, the concept is cool, but it's not very well executed and rather confusing.

[Luis Diaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven’t read a Steve Niles comic in a long time and wanted to see what he had in store with this one. The art style from the surface caught my eye, but after a few pages I realized both the art and writing was bothering me. Besides the typical idea for the story the art was hard to read sometimes. Nile’s words were not very inspiring and it just seemed like a story about the action and horror that was happening, but the older I’ve gotten the more I can appreciate the beauty of the words and images meshing together, but this felt like a story written at a time when those things didn’t matter. Words matter and clear storytelling. This story missed the mark by a lot. The covers were very compelling though. Oddly the kid in the story is suppose to be 12 or 13 and looks, acts and is treated as if he’s 8 or 9. It was disjointed. At that age you should have a kid that already has a particular way of interacting with his parents given that everyone is still unique and different. Just weird and another problem in the story.

[Matthew Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Met Alison Sampson at a ComicCon and bought this book on a whim. After reading it the main impression I am left with is that she is a phenomenal artist, but that Steve Niles' story is just not pulling its comparative weight. The narrative feels like the first third of a horror movie, with a lot missing that - no matter how hard the accompanying 'deep' essays try - cannot be compensated for by the impressively batshit crazy illustrations and the hallucinogenic colours of Stephanie Paitreau and Eiko Takayama.

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the execution of the artistic style. Although scribbly and obtuse at times, there was still an hint of genius behind the images which often had to be solved as with a puzzle.

And that’s where anything that was not boring or predictable ended. It reminded me a lot of a TV movie I watched as a kid. Too shallow and absent of any interesting substance. I hate being negative. The subject matter does not bother me, it was just bleh... Carry on, but don’t expect anything rewarding via this quick read.

[Kat To · Rating 2 out of 5]

it gets three stars from me because I can appreciate the art but that's about it.
the plot was just another extremely shallow horror cliche, and I could've done a better job writing it in less than 24 hours.

[Kate (Looking Glass Reads) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 out of 5 stars on Looking Glass Reads.

Winnebago Graveyard is the story of a young family on a summer road trip. When they come across a fair, they stop for the day, intent on fun and absolutely no cell phones. As the day winds down and they’re set to go home, they find their Winnebago is missing, presumably stolen. When the fair’s employees are unwilling to help, they walk on to the next town. But the sheriff here is completely disinterested in their problems. The whole place feels off, wrong. Strangers aren't welcome here, and soon a missing Winnebago will be the least of this family's problems.

At heart, this is a quintessential horror story, one whose concept everyone is familiar with. A small town found on the side of the road being frightening and completely unnatural isn’t a new idea. But it is a concept that I am just as willing to read as an adult as I was when listening to scary stories told by my father on long road trips when I was small. It’s because of this classic scenario that I was drawn to Winnebago Graveyard.

So where did it fall so very short?

Unfortunately, pretty much everywhere.

The story, while classic, did nothing to stand out from the hoards of similar tales that flood bookshelves. The atmosphere is tense and frightening. The pages are filled with gore. But there is little else to speak of.

We are immediately introduced to a family on a summer road trip – mother, son, and stepfather. I liked this family dynamic. Having a stepparent is quite a normal thing, and yet I find it suspiciously missing from many stories, graphic novel or otherwise. (Or else, the luck of the draw has made them surprisingly absent from my reading list this year). However, the characters themselves were very generic. None of them had any stand-out qualities; there was nothing memorable about them. We spend only a scant few pages with the trio before the action begins. This wasn’t nearly enough time to get to know the family and make the reader care about them. I felt very ambivalent towards the protagonists. I didn’t much care what happened to them. And when what happens to them is falling to the mercy of a cult of bloodthirsty Satanists, well, something is amiss.

The opening pages of the graphic novel does have one of two sections within the story that I appreciated, though. I always love seeing familiar tropes and real life situations turned on their head or explored in ways not normally scene. This section does that well, using the age old ‘put that damned phone down, you don’t need it’ everyone whose been a teenager since cell phones became common house hold items has heard. The actual danger of locking cell phones away is brought to the forefront here when they find the Winnebago is missing. The easiest, most obvious out of the entire situation is taken care of. I also found it fun to see the most obvious argument for having phones on a person at all times played out – that of emergencies.

The characters are very generic. None had any stand-out qualities; there was nothing memorable about them. We spend only a scant few pages with the trio before the action begins. This wasn’t enough time to really care about them or their plight. I felt ambivalent towards the protagonists. I didn’t much care what happened to them. And when ‘what happens to them’ falls to the mercy of a group of bloodthirsty Satanists, well…

As events progress, the situation becomes more and more dire. The second plot aspect I liked happens as the tension is ramping up. Unlike nearly ever horror movie ever made, these characters actually notice danger – at least the majority of the time. When things seem off, they are sure to get out of the situation as best they can. This is a great deviation from the usual. The character’s never felt stupid, which made their lack of personality all the more unfortunate.

Now, Winnebago Graveyard starts off with the antagonists of the story and a decent amount of gore. As the graphic novel continues it finds this dark, frightening footing once again and runs with it. The blood and guts could possibly be a turn off for some people as some pages are very gorey.

The art in this graphic novel shows few details and is largely uninspiring. Colors are muted, using a lot of dark blues and blacks while in nature, and muted browns and yellows while in lighted areas. Characters are lumpily drawn with very round faces and squinty eyes. They’re boring looking, which isn’t an issue in itself, but does little to further endear characters who are already missing a good deal of personality. Scenery isn't depicted almost at all. Grass, dirt, rocks, even trees are nothing more than thin outlines colored in the same monotone, muted colors. There is very little to look at which is odd for a graphic novel. Yet with as little dialogue in this as there is, it really hinders the story. Normally when there is sparse dialogue or narration the art speaks instead. With how flat the panels are and with how few details are ever shown the art isn't ever really given this chance to tell a story by itself.

Perspective is something which, in some scenes is used quite well. In others, it needed a second round of editing. Some cells, particularly those showing people, have very questionable features. For example, when the son is handing his cell phone to his mother, two hands are show, the phone being passed from one to the other. However, the teenagers hand is abnormally small, looking more like the hand of a small child beside his mothers. The cell phones are also quite oddly sized, being roughly the size of a flip phone while clearly being modern smart phones. This really dragged me out of the story and left me focusing on how odd the artistic choices were rather than simply enjoying (or trying to enjoy) the story.

A few places used perspective to their advantage. The road twists and turns at odd angles. The town sweeps and bends, each store front identical to the next as far as the eye can see. These added to the horror element of the story and were used to the work’s advantage. However, combined with the lack of ability to convincingly depict people in relationship to one another and their environment, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all a happy accident.

Am I being too harsh on this graphic novel? Maybe a little. I was very surprised though at just how dark this story got and just how little I cared. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. The antagonist’s motives were at once explained in too much detail to hold the fear of the unknown and too unexplained to weave a convincingly deep tale.

Winnebago Graveyard was a disappointing horror story. Feel free to make the decision yourself. The entire story is only one volume long so there’s no waiting to finish the tale. But if you are looking for a very well plotted horror graphic novel there are many more satisfying stories to be had.

[Mutated Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads Synopsis:
An American family’s vacation turns into a nightmare when they stop in a small California town. Before they know what’s happening, they've become the targets of the town’s citizens who just happen to be Satanists. What comes next is a wild ride of terror and survival. Collects WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD # 1-4.

My Review:
I received a copy of this from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I love the amount of comics I've gotten lately. I haven't been into them for a really long time but I'm glad I've been getting back into them. They're so unique and exciting, I love seeing the art and the story really come together. This next one has a really nice cover that I knew I wanted to check out as soon as I saw it, and the art inside is gothic but still colourful and eye catching. It really helped move the story along.

The story begins with a gruesome cult-like sacrifice of sorts, a man being gutted and a completely different man emerging from his wound, with everyone cheering in the background. What a way to start. It sucked me in from the moment I started it. A completely unrelated family, Dan, Christie and Bobby, are on a road trip, and they stop at a roadside carnival along the way, not expecting anything out of the usual. Because they're trying to settle family conflict by bonding, they leave their phones in the Winnebago they were driving, and enjoy themselves until dark. That's when things start getting weird. They decide to leave and find that their vehicle is missing, the man running the ticket stand says he can't help them and they'll need to walk to town to get help from the police, not even letting them use his phone. So much for relaxing.

I really enjoyed reading this. Though only one hundred and thirty pages, it packed a punch I wasn't expecting. The characters are likeable and relatable, just a normal family. They would never expect the gore and havoc that rains down on them. It was an exciting story and I love that there was just an entire town of murdering Satanists. It's unlike anything I've read lately, and I'm glad I read it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's a link to the book on amazon, and here's another link to the authors twitter.

https://www.amazon.ca/Winnebago-Grave...

https://twitter.com/steveniles?lang=en

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

You have to wonder why they made this 🤷🏻‍♀️ the premises are trite at best - I’m sorry - i had so High hopes for this one but its a 1-2 stars at best.

[minor spoilers] like don’t go into the abandoned u-turn carnival without your phones - but even at that it could have been fun. We are not gripped by the protagonists, the feeling they gave me the most was annoyance, and both the feeling we should get from the evil antagonists and the ‘Why’ is just totally in the wind. Nope. Didn’t work.

There were some ok (2 stars) passages but it just did not grip me...at all... maybe this could have been better as a longer series but take Wytches for example scared the shit out of me in 5 issues so that’s not it.

Art work. Miles and Templesmith worked amazingly together but this ain’t Templesmith though it seems the team have been striving for that same formula... at times the art work is fairly cool, the entry slide was pretty good, but over all it is v hard to discern the characters from each other and facial expressions and body language is totally lost. [minor spoiler] And don’t get me started on the demon - I mean a gorilla with bat wings on its head!

[Kenneth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got this based on a rave from a recent "year's best" list. Wouldn't normally make a point of negging a title that underwhelmed me, but the cover blurbs going on and on about how genius this one is impel me to speak up.

My first take, as an illustrator, is that the artist has some graphic tricks up her sleeve, such as obviously having gotten some friends to pose while she shot photo reference for just about every single frame... but doesn't seem to understand how to draw people in a way that gets or communicates their feelings and experiences. Trapped by her "scrap," you might say.

My second, as a writer and a person who likes to read stories, is that this particular narrative never really caught my interest or involved me, and pretty much ended up with a leaden thud. Like, "huh?"

I'm not trying to suggest that WINNEBAGO GRAVEYARD is utterly devoid of interest or entertainment value. But I would recommend that discriminating readers can safely pass this one by. If it has anything worthwhile to offer, I must admit to having missed it.