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Lip Hook: A Tale of Rural Unease
Somewhere in the British Isles, at the end of a neglected road, there is a village called Lip Hook. For its inhabitants, the village is more than the end of the road—it’s the end of the world. Beyond it, there is nothing but mist-shrouded marshland. Few travellers take the road to Lip Hook, but one foggy night, a car speeds perilously toward the village. The driver is a dangerously beautiful woman, the passenger a man with a gunshot wound and a suitcase containing a treasure he has risked his life for. Cash-strapped but in need of a place to hide, the two fugitives seek shelter at the Hanged Man Inn, where the woman persuades the innkeeper to accept payment in kind. As days pass and the woman extends her services to more of Lip Hook's men, among them the village priest, a false faith grips the community—and reason, logic, and humanity begin to disappear.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2018
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134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 30, 2020
Lip Hook is a horror graphic novel from SelfMadeHero by David Hines and Mark Stafford. Two fugitives, Vince and Sophia, turn off toward Lip Hook, a dead end in so many ways. The.Hanged Man Inn is there, where they decide to stay. Dive bar on acid. All the people are grotesques, underlined by the garish, strangely lit contorted faces and coloring. There’s mist, of course, everywhere, and sometimes there's clouds of killer insects. And monsters. And as it turns out, Sophia is a kind of femme fatale. Some! Scary? More atmospheric than scary, but it has a bit of a chill to it.
That cover, yikes, so cool! Gives one a sense of the link between the surreal and horror. Unease, yes.
The subtitle, “A Tale of Rural Unease,” points to something deeper going on than just suspense about possible horrific violence (though there’s some of that going on, later), but this is not so clear to me. There’s a kind of commitment these folks have to some dark mythology, ancient ways, a long forgotten dark history that seems to happen to these rural people more than others? Such as: Is it like those folks in every country that are superstitious, buying into conspiracy theories, demonic ideology? Not clear, but Bad Things do happen here. There’s also some feminist thread that turns the tables (somewhat?) on the whole femme fatale assumption, revealing that it is men and not women who are responsible for all this madness.
I like the art, consistent with the creepy grotesque moral malaise, dark and slimy and creepy. Maybe I didn’t read it all that clearly and there is, after all, a consistent shape to the world-making? I guess so. I say 3-5 rating, somewhat lower than the general rating, rounded up for the art style, I guess. But these guys (Hines and Stafford) have some interesting potential.
That cover, yikes, so cool! Gives one a sense of the link between the surreal and horror. Unease, yes.
The subtitle, “A Tale of Rural Unease,” points to something deeper going on than just suspense about possible horrific violence (though there’s some of that going on, later), but this is not so clear to me. There’s a kind of commitment these folks have to some dark mythology, ancient ways, a long forgotten dark history that seems to happen to these rural people more than others? Such as: Is it like those folks in every country that are superstitious, buying into conspiracy theories, demonic ideology? Not clear, but Bad Things do happen here. There’s also some feminist thread that turns the tables (somewhat?) on the whole femme fatale assumption, revealing that it is men and not women who are responsible for all this madness.
I like the art, consistent with the creepy grotesque moral malaise, dark and slimy and creepy. Maybe I didn’t read it all that clearly and there is, after all, a consistent shape to the world-making? I guess so. I say 3-5 rating, somewhat lower than the general rating, rounded up for the art style, I guess. But these guys (Hines and Stafford) have some interesting potential.
October 14, 2018
A twisted tale of awesomeness. This book was everything and more. The pacing engaging and the tone clear and consistent. I came across this book at a comic convention on the little town of Kendal and spoke to both Dave and mark who were both passionate and enthusiastic. I was instantly drawn in to the cover. If you are a fan of obscure horror then this is the graphic novel for you. The illustrations are wonderfully monstrous, and colour work dark whilst also illuminating. An excellent book.
August 4, 2022
This was my fist graphic novel, or comic as they used to be called. A reason I had put it off was that almost all of my reading is on a black and white e-reader, and I had wrongly assumed it would be detrimental to the experience. Colour would have been better, and the speech bubble writing is small, but perfectly possible to read and enjoy.
This is folk horror, populated by a set of grotesque characters whose images verge on the disturbing. Straight away it’s a whole different experience to a novel, for which one’s mind does the job of conjuring that image.
Vincent and Sophia are hoodlums on the run from some unspecified crime. Their pursuers, who we never see, present such a threat that it results in them veering off the main road to the remote, forgotten village of Lip Hook, a place shut off from the rest of the world, caught in another twisted reality. As suggested by the subtitle, the sense of unease grows as we learn more about the isolated village, and its surrounding marsh with vast swarms of flying insects, and the seemingly ever present fog.
Illustrator Stafford perfects the technique a film maker might use, of letting the camera dwell to create a sense of dread and yet it is completely compelling. Surely his is the harder of the two roles.
From cricket on the village green, to the masks the villagers wear to protect themselves against the mist, the apparent idyll of rural village life contrasts with stranger practices. The atmosphere builds as it becomes clear something is clearly wrong, and a rewarding climax ensues.
For lovers of folk horror, this is a treat not to be missed.
This is folk horror, populated by a set of grotesque characters whose images verge on the disturbing. Straight away it’s a whole different experience to a novel, for which one’s mind does the job of conjuring that image.
Vincent and Sophia are hoodlums on the run from some unspecified crime. Their pursuers, who we never see, present such a threat that it results in them veering off the main road to the remote, forgotten village of Lip Hook, a place shut off from the rest of the world, caught in another twisted reality. As suggested by the subtitle, the sense of unease grows as we learn more about the isolated village, and its surrounding marsh with vast swarms of flying insects, and the seemingly ever present fog.
Illustrator Stafford perfects the technique a film maker might use, of letting the camera dwell to create a sense of dread and yet it is completely compelling. Surely his is the harder of the two roles.
From cricket on the village green, to the masks the villagers wear to protect themselves against the mist, the apparent idyll of rural village life contrasts with stranger practices. The atmosphere builds as it becomes clear something is clearly wrong, and a rewarding climax ensues.
For lovers of folk horror, this is a treat not to be missed.
January 11, 2019
I loved this graphic novel: the story was creepy and the art was weirdly beautiful! Right from the start, both the illustrations and the story itself had me hooked. As the reader, you know absolutely nothing. Not who the people in the car are and what they've done, nor what's "wrong" with the town called Lip Hook, nor exactly what will happen in the rest of the story. You hope to get all the answers to the questions you have - some you will get, and some will remain unanswered. That's also mainly what I loved about it: quite a big part of the story will forever remain a mystery to its reader. If you're looking for a graphic novel to read in 2019 and love horror, this is the book for you!
November 14, 2021
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271218: this. this is exactly what happens when style is substance in any art in any story in exactly the right medium. this is a new favoritegraphic. it’s a comic book dammit! someone says, but every medium of art can be the right medium. here line, images, composition, expressive portrayals, are all perfect for this pulp graphic of increasingly horrifying story. there is nothing clean here, nothing beautiful, nothing but everything has consistent ‘look’. and look at this work carefully or in glancing and you can feel the pages sweat, smell the fog, hear the chanting. twisted story, history and horror and return of the repressed. and that ineradicable power of sex which of course means power of women fighting corrupt patriarchy etc. story could only happen in timeless rural uk. think ‘wickerman’....
271218: this. this is exactly what happens when style is substance in any art in any story in exactly the right medium. this is a new favoritegraphic. it’s a comic book dammit! someone says, but every medium of art can be the right medium. here line, images, composition, expressive portrayals, are all perfect for this pulp graphic of increasingly horrifying story. there is nothing clean here, nothing beautiful, nothing but everything has consistent ‘look’. and look at this work carefully or in glancing and you can feel the pages sweat, smell the fog, hear the chanting. twisted story, history and horror and return of the repressed. and that ineradicable power of sex which of course means power of women fighting corrupt patriarchy etc. story could only happen in timeless rural uk. think ‘wickerman’....
February 1, 2019
“She would sometimes stare into the fog for hours, as if she could find the answer to some big mystery out there” .
Lip Hook was the perfect read for a cold afternoon, but I don’t think I would want to visit it anytime soon!
It was full of weird and wonderful characters, including two friends, a blind grandma, a weird ass Lord, some weird ass insects and a weird ass fog, a massive orgy and two wanderers! An odd bunch #grimdragon who are you people and where is my horse.
I did weirdly enjoy it, though. It was quite different to most stuff I’ve read and I thought the illustrations were pretty cool! .
Lip Hook was the perfect read for a cold afternoon, but I don’t think I would want to visit it anytime soon!
It was full of weird and wonderful characters, including two friends, a blind grandma, a weird ass Lord, some weird ass insects and a weird ass fog, a massive orgy and two wanderers! An odd bunch #grimdragon who are you people and where is my horse.
I did weirdly enjoy it, though. It was quite different to most stuff I’ve read and I thought the illustrations were pretty cool! .
December 20, 2024
Two fugitives, a disfigured man and a woman who turns out to be , take refuge in a benighted English village whose sole employer is an industrial insect-breeding facility.
This lives up to its subtitle "a tale of rural unease" with a hotchpotchy mix of witchcraft (black and white), pea-souper fogs, inbred yokels and other normal rural stuff. There's feminism, class struggle, and the military-industrial complex thrown in for good measure. The art is good at atmospherics but the people are drawn with a hint of manga which felt off to me. It's really too short a book to contain so many characters and such an elaborate plot and back-story. We never find out exactly what the duo are on the run from, for example, and it all feels kind of rushed.
My wife has been to the real Liphook, in Hampshire. She didn't mention witches or an insect factory but there may have been fog and yokels.
This lives up to its subtitle "a tale of rural unease" with a hotchpotchy mix of witchcraft (black and white), pea-souper fogs, inbred yokels and other normal rural stuff. There's feminism, class struggle, and the military-industrial complex thrown in for good measure. The art is good at atmospherics but the people are drawn with a hint of manga which felt off to me. It's really too short a book to contain so many characters and such an elaborate plot and back-story. We never find out exactly what the duo are on the run from, for example, and it all feels kind of rushed.
My wife has been to the real Liphook, in Hampshire. She didn't mention witches or an insect factory but there may have been fog and yokels.
March 22, 2020
Lovecraftian is an overused word in fiction these days. It seems any time someone includes some sort of lurking or sinister entity from the farther reaches of the shadows, old h.p’s name gets dragged into the spotlight.
Lip hook works because its monster is deeply rooted in ancient mythology. It frightens because of the presence of ritual and old gender dynamics.
It surprises because it speaks of ancient and Ill spoken truths.
This is a graphic novel with some bite.
Insert hook joke here ;)
A worthwhile read.
Lip hook works because its monster is deeply rooted in ancient mythology. It frightens because of the presence of ritual and old gender dynamics.
It surprises because it speaks of ancient and Ill spoken truths.
This is a graphic novel with some bite.
Insert hook joke here ;)
A worthwhile read.
July 10, 2024
I really don’t know what to say about this one.
It was strange, and not to hate on things that are strange, I, myself, am strange and unusual (iykyk), but it was just so out there that I was lost on what exactly I was following here. I just don’t think this was for me.
The graphics were really well done, I liked the style. I really liked the contrast between the first and last page, and I think the style went well with the dark and mysterious story. Apart from the the art, the story was lost on me.
Basically, this woman shows up to this town and turns out she is actually some mythological goddess. There’s some stuff about witchcraft and magic which sounds like a fun, interesting story but I don’t think it was executed well. It turned into a bad (in my opinion) exploration of female sexuality and gender and the way it was written just didn’t work for me.
The majority of people have rated this 4 stars so maybe I wasn’t the right audience for this but I didn’t really enjoy it. The art was good, and the story started of well but it just kept going downhill and ended up not making sense for me.
It was strange, and not to hate on things that are strange, I, myself, am strange and unusual (iykyk), but it was just so out there that I was lost on what exactly I was following here. I just don’t think this was for me.
The graphics were really well done, I liked the style. I really liked the contrast between the first and last page, and I think the style went well with the dark and mysterious story. Apart from the the art, the story was lost on me.
Basically, this woman shows up to this town and turns out she is actually some mythological goddess. There’s some stuff about witchcraft and magic which sounds like a fun, interesting story but I don’t think it was executed well. It turned into a bad (in my opinion) exploration of female sexuality and gender and the way it was written just didn’t work for me.
The majority of people have rated this 4 stars so maybe I wasn’t the right audience for this but I didn’t really enjoy it. The art was good, and the story started of well but it just kept going downhill and ended up not making sense for me.
June 22, 2020
Lip Hook’ is another interesting graphic novel from the people at SelfMadeHero. It starts with fugitives Vince and Sophia on the run, driving fast along an English country road. They turn off for Lip Hook, a dead end as the road goes nowhere else. Beyond Lip Hook, there is only marshland.
The village is full of weird characters who nearly all work for mad Lord Huxley in is insect factory at Murdy End, right on the borders of the marsh. As the plot develops, old conflicts come to light and Sophia causes new ones.
You'll either like this a lot or hate it. The art is slightly mad looking but that suits the characters. The story is great and rolls along to a terrific climax. Graphic novels are branching out to new territory. Batman beware!
For a fuller review see https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/lip-hook...
The village is full of weird characters who nearly all work for mad Lord Huxley in is insect factory at Murdy End, right on the borders of the marsh. As the plot develops, old conflicts come to light and Sophia causes new ones.
You'll either like this a lot or hate it. The art is slightly mad looking but that suits the characters. The story is great and rolls along to a terrific climax. Graphic novels are branching out to new territory. Batman beware!
For a fuller review see https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/lip-hook...
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November 9, 2024Two outsiders on the run end up in a peculiar English village with unsettling locals and an unorthodox church – the obvious thing would be to call Lip Hook folk horror, but the strangeness here is so grotesquely front and centre from the start that it feels a little bit past that. The enshrouding murk, the menfolk all working at Huxley's Insect Factory, the sinister local aristocracy put this in similar cursed territory to the RPG Teeth, and Mark Stafford's art has never looked so perfectly unappealing. Admittedly, making the awfulness so overt that it borders on the absurd does mean that the more serious points sometimes struggle to land, and I'm not convinced even the frenetic finale entirely braided the various strands of the plot, but as a sort of gnostic League Of Gentlemen it's still a satisfying, horrible read.
October 15, 2022
Lip Hook certainly delivers on its promise of unease and then some. Every phantasmagoric frame has an off-kilter way of making your skin crawl. The story itself descends further and further into the bizzare as the titular character seems to become inhabited by an ancient fertility goddess that leads the town into debauchery or liberation depending on your point of view. The central male characters certainly perceive it to be the former and a violent clash of gender rivalry ensues. While these spiritual themes about gender were interesting, I found the story unsatisfiyingly disturbing and I can only confidently recommend it on the merit of its fantastic art which triggers a visceral reaction in the reader.
August 17, 2019
The art of this book is very intentionally off putting, and sometimes I find that I really enjoy that in a book. It forcefully snatches me out of some of the pinky fluffy YA books that I love and throws me in to Lip Hook where it's pretty much just (spoiler? But not if you read the back cover....) sex, violence, bugs, body horror and then a very thought provoking theme about feminism , female sexuality tied with empowerment, and religion. I'd say it's a weird mix, but not really, it's just a kind of dark twist on our own realities as we know them. 4 out of 5 only because I will absolutely remember having read this book, but not enough to remember to recommend it to someone.
May 11, 2019
That was a weird one. Good, but weird. I quite like the art & the strange mythology of Lip Hook, it has a creeping weirdness from page one that really works. That said, this almost feels like an adaptation of a novel rather than an original graphic novel. It might just be that the feeling of mystery never really subsides (even when the plot has reached it's conclusion) but it just has the feel of a good adaptation, beautiful and fascinating but missing something. Very worth a read, especially for adult fans of new weird, Lovecraft, or creeping rural horror
August 3, 2021
I loved The Bad, Bad Place, so I was eager to check out David Hine and Mark Stafford's earlier effort, Lip Hook. It's very similar to Bad Place in its small town setting and folk horror vibe, but this time the story concerns a cult forming in the mysterious and isolated town of Lip Hook. I was just as enamored with this one as I was with Bad Place, and I hope the future is filled with more excellent folk horror graphic novels by Hine and Stafford. They clearly have a knack for this subgenre, and I'd love to see more from them.
February 14, 2021
I really enjoyed this graphic novel about Lip Hook and the weird things that happen there, in a town where an insect factory releases fog into the air that makes you see things. The artwork was delightfully macabre and suited the story so well. The story kept me gripped, but the ending felt a bit rushed and unsatisfying when all I really wanted was a bit more time in the world. A brilliant dark read.
January 5, 2022
“I’m going to die in Lip Hook…great.”
This was an awesome one shot, a bit confusing at first due to the rural dialect and oft-non-chronological storytelling, but ultimately very easy to grasp once you give up your conventions and become fully transported into the surreal american nightmare that is Lip Hook. One part Texas Chainsaw, one part Suspiria, and a healthy sprinkling of guillermo del toro give you a chilling, thrilling romp through the dank, apocalyptic wetlands of Lip Hook.
This was an awesome one shot, a bit confusing at first due to the rural dialect and oft-non-chronological storytelling, but ultimately very easy to grasp once you give up your conventions and become fully transported into the surreal american nightmare that is Lip Hook. One part Texas Chainsaw, one part Suspiria, and a healthy sprinkling of guillermo del toro give you a chilling, thrilling romp through the dank, apocalyptic wetlands of Lip Hook.
September 7, 2023
Picked this book by total accident in the library and spent another hour or so mesmerised. It took mw to another time, another place and I loved every second of it. The story is not even horrror in its true sense; I’d describe it as a more of a fever dream with dread from somewhere outside enetring you. Did not love the artstyle, but I got used to it pretty quickly and it does suit the story. Definitely reccommend!
April 2, 2020
3.5
Not very creepy if not for the art (which I really really liked), but still a simple and yet quiet interesting story.
I have to say that with time I have got kind of bored with the trope of following a story from the past happening again and because of that the rating did suffer. I'd pick up more buy the creators though so that is a good sign.
Not very creepy if not for the art (which I really really liked), but still a simple and yet quiet interesting story.
I have to say that with time I have got kind of bored with the trope of following a story from the past happening again and because of that the rating did suffer. I'd pick up more buy the creators though so that is a good sign.
December 16, 2024
Good ideas and a strong, eerie atmosphere. Didn't focus as much on individual characters as I'd have liked, and I wasn't personally fond of how the female empowerment/repression of female sexuality throughline was handled. I enjoyed my time in Lip Hook, but I'm not sure I'd go back for a second visit.
April 24, 2025
A creepy small town that exports bugs full of poison gets visited by the whore of Babylon- what feels like a wild premise actually comes together to tell an empowering (if dark) story about finding purpose in a small town.
The art is totally demented Pizza Hut from the 90s- I can’t explain exactly what about it but some other 90s kid back me up, please!
The art is totally demented Pizza Hut from the 90s- I can’t explain exactly what about it but some other 90s kid back me up, please!
June 10, 2022
The art was creepy, the story was unsettling, the vibes were just what I wanted. The only thing I didn't like was the lettering which was sometimes hard to read. Overall I loved the story of odd stuff happening in an isolated town and the cult vibes were great.
July 14, 2025
Found in HMV for £4 - bargain! Well-told, beautifully illustrated story weaving together witchcraft, wyrd folkism and a set of suitably odd rural characters that keep you guessing. For fans of The Wicker Man and Hot Fuzz.
September 28, 2025
"A Tale of Rural Unease" is accurate, but not a compliment. The art is offputting in it's deformity and the font chosen for the letting is painful to read. The plot itself is a good one, but the stylistic decisions keep it from being great.
November 2, 2018
A really weird read with a good structure underneath it that makes it work.
February 22, 2019
Loved the art but the story was poor and felt unresolved, So many character, events and conversations that was irelivant to the story.
December 21, 2019
Wonderful graphic novel. Not for kids! Loved it x
April 15, 2021
Interesting story and beautiful illustrations.
July 31, 2021
"A Tale of Rural Unease" is the subtitle and it's an understatement. This was creepy in story and art, but ultimately uplifting and I quite enjoyed it.
August 4, 2024
Loved it, the story was great, the artwork was awesome!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews