Film to Print: Comic Coverage – Fright Night #5

Fright Night #5 gets moving in great fashion, as a creepy clown stumbles onto Peter Vincent’s stage, and insanity ensues. It turns out it isn’t anything other than a prank being played by the television crew, but it sure pisses Vincent off, and it gives us a nice little note to take away from the situation: the old booger can still fight!

There’s a nod to Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, a disgruntled janitor that could have stumbled forth from a Toxic Avenger movie, a lot of pissed off Fright Night viewers. It’s got a lot of elements that harken back to the ‘80s while still holding a little relevance today. I love that about this issue. But we’ll see where it goes in the final two thirds of the issue.

There’s a really insane monster introduced in this issue, and while his eating habits mirror that of a vampire, he sure doesn’t look like a vampire. He’s menacing, for sure, but we’re traveling in strange territory yet again. And speaking of strange territory, isn’t Charley always present in these moments? He hasn’t surfaced in the book yet.

Charley eventually shows up, and he does so just in the nick of time, as Peter Vincent, with Charley in tow, run directly into “Spider Bite,” a new mutated villain with the ability to summon all spiders from miles around. Needless to say, this won’t be an easy battle for Peter Vincent or Charley Brewster.

I’m digging the monster introduction here. I’m also big on the fact that we’re getting away from the genuinely outlandish stories the first handful of books utilized. Outside of the first issue, things didn’t work too well. But writer James Van Hise has really elevated the story in addition to the dialogue, and artist Lenin Delsol gives us some very epic images. This is the best art to be featured in the run, yet!

Rating: 4/5