The Unsound

by Cullen Bunn, Jack T. Cole (Illustrator)

A surreal horror story, following a young nurse who is caught in the middle of a strange supernatural conspiracy on her first day working for Saint Cascia Psychiatric Hospital.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS SANITY?

Ever since she was little, all Ashli wanted was to help people. It’s why she went to nursing school, and it’s why she signed up for the vacant position at Saint Cascia, despite the psychiatric hospital’s less-than-sterling reputation. But when strange occurrences begin in the midst of her very first day on the job—razor blades scattered through the halls, a patient named Xerxes always hidden behind a makeshift mask, and a brutal riot initiated by the inmates—Ashli is forced to escape through the labyrinthine bowels of the asylum to not only help her fellow nurses…but to save herself.

Eisner Award-nominated writer Cullen Bunn ( Harrow County, The Empty Man ) is joined by brilliant newcomer artist Jack T. Cole for The Unsound , a surreal psychological horror series that will have you questioning what it is to truly be crazy…

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Mystery

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2018

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easily the worst thing I've read in a long time.



Terrible nonsense plot that never got any better. And the dialogue is on par with something that I would have expected to have come from a middle school creative writing project.
The art worked, but only in the sense that it completely sold the gibberish angle of this thing.
Blech.
I expected a lot more from Cullen Bunn than whateverthehell this was.

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Labeled as horror, but in reality it was just a bunch of nonsense. I think Bunn was going for a descent into madness type story as the nurses and inmates try to escape the sanitarium through the unused depths of the hospital. The whole thing just felt like lot of bunk to me. Monkeys typing on a typewriter could have delivered just as much "horror" as this comic. Jack T. Cole's art was reminiscent of Kevin O'Neill's. Some panels just looked like a bunch of squiggles; I didn't know what I was looking at. A definite disappointment.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the deal is with all these one and two star reviews, but I found this to be one of the better horror comics I've read in recent years. It's got everything I look for in horror and weird fiction: creepy as hell characters and setting (in this case a mental institute); the gradual morphing of reality into unreality; and that lovely feeling that's sort of a mixture of chilling and "what the shit is going on?"

Nightmarish, surreal, with a slowly unfolding mystery that was handled expertly. Reality breaking down in an insane asylum, you say? Yes please. Also, excellent use of colors by Jack T. Cole to help convey mood, enhancing the eeriness factor, with line work that reminds me a bit of Moebius -- always a good thing.

Between this and Harrow County, Cullen Bunn is batting a thousand for me.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s Ashli’s first day as a nurse at Saint Cascia, a mental health clinic in a poor part of the city - and it might be her last. Following a riot by the patients, Ashli and the rest of the staff must escape the increasingly surreal labyrinth of the hospital by putting their trust in the mysterious patient with a paper plate mask - who somehow seems to know Ashli quite well…

Cullen Bunn does hack horror comics like no one else out there but The Unsound is the first one of his I’ve read in a while that I didn’t outright dislike for its sheer unoriginality and storytelling laziness. Not that it’s a great comic either - it’s not - but it’s an interesting failure regardless.

The story builds nicely to begin with - foreshadowing the significance of razor blades, the strange atmosphere of Saint Cascia that makes you wonder who the patients and who the professionals are - before basically giving up and descending into a chase storyline interspersed with barely-coherent weirdness seemingly for the sake of weirdness.

I liked a number of aspects of the story - the Lovecraftian hospital and what it represents, the Idiot Prince (the man in the paper plate mask), and how Ashli’s past tied into it all. Jack T. Cole’s art is also surprisingly effective as horror partly because it’s not the usual treatment of too much darkness or generic monsters/blood’n’guts; all of the characters are humanoid, the designs are of everyday things but in unusual contexts, and the visuals in general are bright and colourful.

Though interesting in themselves, these aspects never really came together in a satisfying way - the explanation for it all is vague and underwritten and the surrealism is gratuitous. I feel like there’s a great horror story to be had with the concept of sanity and what that constitutes, and Bunn has assembled an intriguing assortment of pieces to enliven such a story, but it’s not realised well here unfortunately.

The Unsound is not a terrible comic and might be worth a look for horror fans, and good on Bunn for having a decent stab at a difficult and ambitious story, but it’s also not a particularly good one with underdeveloped characters, uninspired set pieces and a rushed finale that left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed.

[Heather-Lin]

DNF @ page 26/157

This wasn't working for me on any level. Even if the art had been extraordinary, I think the writing is tropey and bland. Maybe I quit before it hit it's stride, but I'm moving on.

[kaitlphere · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title and cover has made me want to read this book for a long time, but it wasn't for me. There's a lot of self-harm and some violence. The remainders of the original, abandoned patients were sad to think about, as that likely happened with closed asylums IRL, and they were portrayed as menacing. The mythology of the unsound being a group of deities instead of the creepy sound it's rumored to be IRL was original, but the psychological horror is too off-putting to find any enjoyment in the originality.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
I prefer plot to gore…wish this had more story.
I thought the Nurse Jeffers character was well done but then she just lost.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy horror books for their randomness, and how there is no real narrative logic to anything, just a general aura of creepiness, then this might be a book for you. Events happen because horror. You eventually learn the reason why the protagonist is involved because the story needed an ending.

It's not really fun. There's no reason to like or dislike any of the characters, as they're all just plot devices to move you to the next scene. The maybe(?) antagonist is supposed to look creepy because they have a mask, but cutting holes in paper plates hasn't been terrifying to me since I've had object permanence.

I recommend this only to people who love bad horror movies or books. It's not unreadable garbage. It's a perfectly underwhelming concept executed with maximum mediocrity.

[connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! The art is really dark and violent, as is the plot. Having the setting be a mental hospital was certainly an interesting choice, it really sets the tone and I like the crossover into this very original fantasy-esque realm. The whole explanation was pretty easy to follow, in my opinion; I think it was handled really well and only made me love this more. I wouldn't describe the treatment of mental illness as great, but it was certainly interesting to read. I very much enjoyed this reading experience! I wish there were more volumes, though.

TW: weird treatment of mental illnesses, as well as showing graphic self harm, addiction, and has a lot of violence

[Nah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing, compelling and intense; the artwork dutifully represents the grim and shaky profundity of the deeper questions inherent in the journey it details.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story was a little under-developed, but the artwork wasn't bad.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. This was a cool idea, but the series rapidly went way downhill. The art was pretty forgettable too, despite the occasional flavor of surreality.

[Celeste · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

When reading comic bind-ups or graphic novels, horror seems to be my subgenre of choice. I had never heard of The Unsound, but the asylum setting immediately appealed to me. My favorite type of horror is that which deals with psychology and the ways in which we can be betrayed by our own minds. So The Unsound seemed like it would be right up my alley. And it was, to an extent. The story was an interesting one, but felt disjointed and ephemeral. I think the art might’ve been relied on too heavily to convey the story, giving the writer leave to not delve into things they weren’t entirely sure how to explain. This is something that might be addressed in subsequent issues, should they be in the works. All in all, The Unsound just fell a bit flat for me.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent immersive read, I found myself re-reading each chapter because I was so eager to find out what happened that I rushed. It's a surreal journey through extreme mental illness from several perspectives. There are touches of the stereotypical eye-rolling insane asylum "What's your dark secret?" and "Who's the REAL patient?" plot hooks, but the story goes much much deeper and does not rely heavily on tropes. The art really captures the feeling of madness that prevails throughout the story; it's violent, but not gratuitous. I'm really anticipating the sequel and finding out more about "The Unsound" and how the main character will function in real her normal life with the madness following her.

[Brittney R · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first foray into the world of graphic novels. I picked up this one because it was described as a true horror story and I just couldn’t resist a scary story matched with art.

Unfortunately, the story fell flat for me. I never got invested in the characters because the story felt rushed. I also felt like the it was kind of all over the place, like I almost understood what they were trying to say but they could have done it better. Maybe a longer graphic novel would have accomplished this?

I saw a different review say the art was just scribbles. While I agree some panes were, I did find other pages absolutely beautiful. And while I don’t think this hooked me in on graphic novels, it was a fine change of scenery for a bit.

[Mary MacGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well! I was fascinated! It's half funny, half horror, really. I read this on a Kindle and really loved the way I could click on panels to see each one up close. The illustrations/artwork are really good; I found myself wondering how to even think about creating something like that.

The basic story - what's madness, what's sanity - is, well, ageless really. Does Ashli belong in an insane asylum or to be working as a nurse there? And the ending, with Ashli visiting her mom in a facility - lots of fodder for family lies and how they make us unhealthy in countless ways.

If you're looking for something different, I recommend this book. But if not, then I don't. Ha! Not sure how to rate this graphic novel, as I haven't read any others. Hm. A solid 4 I think.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bunn can’t seem to decide if he’s writing a surreal stress dream or a bizarre real-life horror story that’s happening exactly as it appears to be. That ambiguity has the potential to be interesting but it mostly ends up tedious and incoherent. I’ve previously enjoyed Cole’s artwork online and he’s certainly the best thing about this book, but while he draws some great pages here, I wasn’t consistently impressed by it like I have been by some of his other work.

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by this book, and it's a good -- the kind of horror I've come to expect from Bunn -- but by the time I got to the end, I could help but think that this was the beginning of a "thicker" narrative. There seemed to be a larger mythos underlying this story. But the details of that mythos just isn't there.

[Luke Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fell asleep reading this last night with the feeling that it was sort of dreamy and mysterious and great. But then when I woke up and finished it as a non-sleepy person, it kinda just felt like all it had to offer is Mental Hospital Scary and People Struggling With Mental Health = Evil and Dangerous, plus some pretty fantastic art and visual motifs. Idk.

I know horror is supposed to deal with scary stuff and MADNESS is a traditional subject, which can be handled at varying points on the respect/exploitation spectrum while still resulting in compelling art, but this felt pretty regressive and gross to me by the end. Good art tho.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really like the art and the story is very good too. I like the way they used the release of the mentally ill into society without a net as a foundation for the story. I look forward to reading the next 2 and more.

[Nataly Luevanos · Rating 2 out of 5]

CW// self-harm, cutting (graphic), drug overdose, harmful images of mental health, blood, murder, hanging, electroshock therapy

The concept of this comic was initially interesting to me as someone who wants to work in the mental health field, but now rereading the synopsis and actually reading the comics, I realize that the execution of this concept and the word choices are harmful.

Disclaimer: when reading this comic, it’s important to note that the behaviors exhibited by characters are exaggerations of mental health disorders and are not accurate representations. I recommend reading other sources for more accurate portrayals.

The Unsound follows the story of a young nurse named Ashli who begins work at a psychiatric hospital. On her first day of work, things begin to escalate to the point where she and a few others must find a way to escape.

Overall, I think I was way too focused on how mental disorders were written for me to enjoy this comic. I did like the art. The illustrations and the color scheme fit beautifully. There were some graphic images so I do not recommend this comic to anyone who is struggling with their mental health. Some images may be triggering for some.

This story is marketed as a psychological horror story and the atmosphere of the story did give off those vibes; however, most of the horror came from common stereotypes of mental disorders. This can be super harmful because it feeds into the assumption that people with disorders are “crazy,” violent, and dangerous, and thus should be kept under control. This comic also has exaggerated personifications of different disorders. This in of itself can be an interesting concept to explore within a story with the proper research; however, I don’t think this was done as well as it could have been. I think part of the reason was because this was introduced later in the comics and it wasn’t explored as much as the rest of the story. This comic reads very much like the beginning of a larger, more complex story and thus feels unfinished. Although interesting at first, this story was not for me, mainly because it contributes to harmful mental health representation. However, this should not necessarily deter you from reading this comic.

[Darcy Roar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and bleak (though that seems to be the point). I really liked the color shifts & the weird mythology of the world, but it's like we've dipped a pinky-toe into the world rather than gotten a full introduction. It has a good feel though with the strange archetypes and blurred reality, like a more madness version of the dreaming invented by someone who really likes green. It catches you up quite well, would recommend for horror/fantasy fans (especially those more interested in worlds than characters) & people who like the darker/madness corners of Sandman.

[Abhinav Vuppalapati · Rating 4 out of 5]

No clue why there are some 1 star 2 star reviews but it actually wasn’t bad! I honestly found it very intriguing and a really fun book to read. The art takes a while to get use to, but if you can appreciate the style than you’ll enjoy reading this, I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a horror comic, more like going into the world of mental illness in a very interesting, intriguing story that pulls you in. Again it does take time to get into it, but once you’re into the book it’s just fun reading through it.

[Imogene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m actually marking this one down a little because it’s only a single volume. I wish it could have been a longer running series that explored its themes more thoroughly.

I mean, I love an anthropomorphic personification, or maybe some kind of god or monster, or maybe a hallucination?

I’m going with the idea that belief creates the thing, and the thing creates belief, and it all cycles together. Of course, this is an asylum......

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, pretty enjoyable if you're into the psychedelic skewed version of reality that makes you doubt your own sanity. I especially enjoyed the artwork. I am a little annoyed that there isn't more, though. It feels a little shallow as far as the plot goes, with a lot left unexplored. There could easily be further volumes, so to leave it so incomplete feels a little... disappointing.

Maybe one day Bunn will decide to delve back in. If that happens, count me in.

[Liana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was a trip. I have no idea what is going on but it was beautifully and creepily done. Picked it up as a "bonus borrow" at the library and had no idea what I was getting into. Plot is so random as to be pretty shallow, but I forgave that. By the end it's obvious there's something deeper going on but we just don't have any clue.

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seeing recent reviews reminded me that I had read this . From the title and convoluted premise, I thought this was loosely based on the podcast The Black Tapes. The storyline of this comic didn’t make sense and not in an interesting sort of way.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was something...

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously creepy. What is real and what isn't?

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really got lost in this book, like hypnotized and pulled in their world. Wild