Review: Plunge #6
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer:Â Joe Hill
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Colors:Â Dave Stewart
Letters:Â Deron Bennett
Reviewer:Â Tony Farina
Summary
Sixty fathoms below the ocean’s surface, a massive hatch waits to be opened…Something within wants to emerge; wants to be born; wants to rise; wants to feed. The child is coming, desperate to fill its belly—by devouring reality itself!
Positives
Plunge #6 will make you never want to go on the water again. I didn’t really want to before. Sharks were bad enough, but then I have to contend with the creepy crawlies that came out of Joe Hill’s imagination and that were brought to life by Stuart Immonen. Like his other work in Hill House, Joe Hill leans on the “last girl” trope and then spins it on its head. I think the way to make social commentary work is to live within the framework. Much like Cabin in the Woods does everything every horror movie does while making fun of it, all the books in Hill House Comics pick at every horror convention and embraces them while making us consider why they exist. You can not come away from Plunge #6 without thinking for an hour or two after you close it. This is horror done right.
Immonen is part of the reason this book works so well. Doing art that takes place underwater must be a challenge but he makes it seem like it is not even a problem. The monster reveal at the end is horrific and beautiful. As always with good horror, the humans are more terrifying and I think Immonen manages to capture a lot of the monstrous behavior done by humans as well.
Negatives
Plunge #6 should have gone the route as Basketful of Heads #6 and added a seventh issue. I think there was a bit too much crammed into this story. It was good and it was a satisfying conclusion, with hopes for more, but I think we just needed more pages here.
Verdict
Plunge #6 wraps up the most amazing year from Hill House Comics. We can all hope that Joe will find a way to bring them back even if DC does not. While Plunge has not been my favorite of the Hill House Comics, it has been good. That last page gives me hope for more to come. Still, Hill created quite a world here. I can only imagine how they all connect. I suspect, the events of this story, with the ripping of reality, could lead to a crossover in the future with all the titles. I would be OK with that. Thanks for a terrifying trip Joe. I enjoyed it.
