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The Light
It is as sudden as it is deadly. Its origins are unknown. When it strikes, a father must risk all to protect his daughter and escape across the Oregon countryside - before they are infected by THE LIGHT! Prepare yourself for the wildly acclaimed horror-thriller from writer Nathan Edmondson and artist Brett Weldele. Learn to love the darkness; learn to fear THE LIGHT! Collects THE LIGHT #1-5.
140 pages, Paperback
First published December 28, 2010
33 people want to read
About the author
Nathan Edmondson
215 books125 followersComic book and screenwriter Nathan Edmondson is a native of Augusta, GA. His Eisner-nominated book Who Is Jake Ellis? will soon be a major motion picture from 20th Century Fox, and The Activity film will come soon from Paramount Pictures. NPR has listed his work among the “Top 6 Comics to Draw You In” and USA Today and CNN are among those who have listed him in their Top 10 lists.
Nathan currently lives near Los Angeles, USA.
Nathan currently lives near Los Angeles, USA.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 18, 2011
Simply put, THE LIGHT is one of the best horror comics I've read in ages.
The plot is simple. Sometimes-welder Coyle wakes up in the middle of the night to find that any light source connected to the main power grid suddenly has a startling and grisly effect on those who look at it. Luckily his welding goggles offer protection from the light's effects. As the world falls apart around him, Coyle's only goal is to protect his daughter and get her to safety, even if it means keeping her blindfolded for the majority of their journey.
THE LIGHT is in some ways a more fantastical retelling of Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD, or any of a dozen other stories like it. It shares the father-child, at-any-cost theme of that story, and the bleak, sparsely populated landscape. (Although doesn't THE LIGHT take place over about 2 days? Did the world really go to hell that quickly?) Coyle is smartly written not as a Super Dad but as a slightly-worse-than everyman with personal demons and troubles galore. Even his mother doesn't like him. But when the end of the world comes, Coyle's priorities emerge rather gracefully.
Brett Weldele's art is deceptively simple. His quick line work on it's own would probably evoke Dave McKean. In some places it even looks rushed. (In particular I might encourage Weldele to redraw the last few pages of the series and add some more detail and shadow. But what do I know.)
Weldele's colors, however, change everything. The limited palette and pale, almost sickly colors set the tone perfectly. Glowing yellows and soft whites have never seemed as sinister as they do on these pages. The fire, smoke and "glowing skeleton" effects are unsettling and terrifying. The added textures complement the mood.
One last thing I really loved about this book was its Oregon setting. It's clear writer Nathan Edmondson is either familiar with the state or did his homework well. The place names and highway numbers all made sense, and there was even a crack about Coyle pumping his own gas in the state. The overall effect was engaging, if only because the story takes place in my backyard. One quibble (spoiler alert) is that the author suggests the NW power grid follows strict political borders.
There's plenty of great campy, pulpy horror being produced in comics these days. But truly frightening books like THE LIGHT are a rare treat.
The plot is simple. Sometimes-welder Coyle wakes up in the middle of the night to find that any light source connected to the main power grid suddenly has a startling and grisly effect on those who look at it. Luckily his welding goggles offer protection from the light's effects. As the world falls apart around him, Coyle's only goal is to protect his daughter and get her to safety, even if it means keeping her blindfolded for the majority of their journey.
THE LIGHT is in some ways a more fantastical retelling of Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD, or any of a dozen other stories like it. It shares the father-child, at-any-cost theme of that story, and the bleak, sparsely populated landscape. (Although doesn't THE LIGHT take place over about 2 days? Did the world really go to hell that quickly?) Coyle is smartly written not as a Super Dad but as a slightly-worse-than everyman with personal demons and troubles galore. Even his mother doesn't like him. But when the end of the world comes, Coyle's priorities emerge rather gracefully.
Brett Weldele's art is deceptively simple. His quick line work on it's own would probably evoke Dave McKean. In some places it even looks rushed. (In particular I might encourage Weldele to redraw the last few pages of the series and add some more detail and shadow. But what do I know.)
Weldele's colors, however, change everything. The limited palette and pale, almost sickly colors set the tone perfectly. Glowing yellows and soft whites have never seemed as sinister as they do on these pages. The fire, smoke and "glowing skeleton" effects are unsettling and terrifying. The added textures complement the mood.
One last thing I really loved about this book was its Oregon setting. It's clear writer Nathan Edmondson is either familiar with the state or did his homework well. The place names and highway numbers all made sense, and there was even a crack about Coyle pumping his own gas in the state. The overall effect was engaging, if only because the story takes place in my backyard. One quibble (spoiler alert) is that the author suggests the NW power grid follows strict political borders.
There's plenty of great campy, pulpy horror being produced in comics these days. But truly frightening books like THE LIGHT are a rare treat.
January 29, 2020
A brilliant idea complete with some great, mood-setting artwork, but poorly written.
So many wasted panels of pointless dialogue going around in circles. Some even repeat themselves, where the characters have the same conversation twice, seeming to forget they already had the conversation two pages before. That was kind of weird.
The thing about graphic novels is it's like bite-size stories. Writing a good graphic novel is incredibly challenging, because there are far fewer pages in which to build a world, set a scene, establish a conflict, develop characters and play out plots, and it has to be done entirely through artwork and dialogue alone. So dialogue needs to be stella. Every word needs to be relevant and impact the next panel.
The problem with this graphic novel isn't the story itself or the artwork, but the dialogue. The way the characters behave in this world, given their circumstances is understandable, but so much more could have been covered through better dialogue.
There were so many redundant conversations and I just feel like those panels could've been better used to explore the conflict further. And where the dialogue wasn't redundant, it just felt sloppy. Poor dialogue makes boring characters, and I struggled to connect with any of them.
The artwork, however, is perfect for the story. It suits the mood so much. Its tense, atmospheric and a little mysterious. Even before the disaster struck, there was something dark and foreboding about it. With so much of it drawn in either stark light or deep shadows, the artist did a good job depicting the important details within each panel despite these contrasts.
I don't believe this has a sequel, but if it did, I probably wouldn't read it, just because I didn't enjoy the characters enough. This would make a great movie, though. I'd sure watch it.
So many wasted panels of pointless dialogue going around in circles. Some even repeat themselves, where the characters have the same conversation twice, seeming to forget they already had the conversation two pages before. That was kind of weird.
The thing about graphic novels is it's like bite-size stories. Writing a good graphic novel is incredibly challenging, because there are far fewer pages in which to build a world, set a scene, establish a conflict, develop characters and play out plots, and it has to be done entirely through artwork and dialogue alone. So dialogue needs to be stella. Every word needs to be relevant and impact the next panel.
The problem with this graphic novel isn't the story itself or the artwork, but the dialogue. The way the characters behave in this world, given their circumstances is understandable, but so much more could have been covered through better dialogue.
There were so many redundant conversations and I just feel like those panels could've been better used to explore the conflict further. And where the dialogue wasn't redundant, it just felt sloppy. Poor dialogue makes boring characters, and I struggled to connect with any of them.
The artwork, however, is perfect for the story. It suits the mood so much. Its tense, atmospheric and a little mysterious. Even before the disaster struck, there was something dark and foreboding about it. With so much of it drawn in either stark light or deep shadows, the artist did a good job depicting the important details within each panel despite these contrasts.
I don't believe this has a sequel, but if it did, I probably wouldn't read it, just because I didn't enjoy the characters enough. This would make a great movie, though. I'd sure watch it.
April 11, 2019
Really interesting story and it was really intense at times. Though i would have liked the dynamic of a deadbeat dad and his daughter who he has a strained relationship with to be more interesting than it ended up being, plus his daughter did nothing but whine the entire comic (which Edmondson seems to have a problem writing female characters except in The Activity and The Dream Merchant, which they are both well written)
April 12, 2014
The idea for the story was absolutely fantastic, but the execution of telling that story was sub-par. The art, however, is simply gorgeous! That's why I bought this book in the first place (that and it was on the clearance shelf for mere pennies). Really, though, I simply loved the whole concept behind this book; I just wish it had been told better.
July 6, 2021
A really strong premise that falls apart pretty quickly. Author Nathan Edmondson has some good ideas here but they never get fleshed out. There is no one to root for and the protagonist's redemption arc is muddled at best. The idea of "light" becoming infectious and deadly is played out well though, albeit much too quickly. The art fits the book extremely well and gave me Ben Templesmith vibes. Overall, better concept than book.
September 3, 2024
A weak story with forgettable characters. Nothing is explained, nothing is resolved.
November 25, 2014
This book I really enjoyed reading but I feel like they could have had way more plot to it. the idea of whats happening is great, but the plot was just empty. It felt like three ish things happened in the whole book like when they stopped at the gas station instead of everything going to plan maybe there could have been other scavengers looking for gas and food that were killing everyone they came across. they had allot of opportunity for a better plot that they didn't take but other than that I think I liked it mostly. 3.5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2011
Great illustrations are a highlight of this unusual horror story.
August 4, 2012
Brilliant ,fast paced and inciteful, nice take on the genre
June 14, 2013
The story was short and mostly metaphor. The artwork was very much a style I enjoyed.
July 23, 2013
This was a great comic with an excellent concept. I just wish he had done more with it.
March 24, 2015
Unique and a super fast read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews