By d. emerson eddy — The past is a graveyard. It's filled with ghosts. Of dead things, passed people, outmoded ways of thinking. Time that is gone. Even people that are alive are not the same as the memory of them. We're constantly in a state of change, becoming different versions of ourselves, and looking back will always be through a gossamer web of nostalgia, longing, perhaps regret. Especially lost love, there's a hurt that tends to linger that can cause attachment issues if you let it. You become the house that's haunted.

Deadman - Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love by Sarah Vaughn, Lan Medina, Phil Hester, José Villarrubia, and Janice Chiang revives an old DC Comics trademark in The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, now with added Deadman. I've never read the original series, though it appears to be a similar done-in-one horror series similar to DC's other '70s anthologies like House of Mystery and House of Secrets, with an initial focus on love tragedies before it was retooled as Forbidden Tales of the Dark Mansion.

Deadman - Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love seems to take its inspiration from the first issue (itself with art by Tony DeZuniga, so I'll have to check it out myself) of the earlier series. It's a gothic romance, with a little bit of horror, that's evocative of that haunted, tragic love that you see in something like Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It drops Deadman into a mystery of a house he can't escape, a strange ghost trapped for more than a century, and a second protagonist in Berenice, who herself can see ghosts. The story alternates between Deadman and Berenice each chapter as the mystery of the house and of its ghosts come to light, along with a modern day love triangle that Berenice finds herself in. This latter portion giving an interesting look at two different approaches to relationships, one very traditional, perhaps even stifling, and a more modern love.

The artwork from Lan Medina, Phil Hester (who handles breakdowns for the fourth chapter), and José Villarrubia evokes that kind of haze of memory of years gone by. For much of the story, Medina uses an ink wash over his pencils, then enhanced further with soft focus colors by Villarrubia. There's a delicateness and darkness to the art that makes it feel truly unique. It's absolutely beautiful work and adds to the overall haunting feel of the story. The look is capped off with Janice Chiang's letters, with shifting colors for our two protagonist's narration boxes and a unique approach to what we initially think may be the evil of the house speech.

Deadman - Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love by Vaughn, Medina, Hester, Villarrubia, and Chiang is an intriguing use of Deadman, acting as a catalyst and detective in a mystery of a tragic love and an enigmatic house. The story plays well to the gothic romance/horror themes and stylings, trapping the reader along with Deadman in its pages.

Deadman - Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love

Deadman - Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love
Writer: Sarah Vaughn
Artists: Lan Medina & Phil Hester
Colourist: José Villarrubia
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Publisher: DC Comics
Trapped inside an old gothic mansion, Deadman must battle the forces of darkness alongside Berenice, a young woman with a complicated love life who is gifted-or cursed-with the ability to communicate with the dead. Romance, mystery, and evil await in DEADMAN: DARK MANSION OF FORBIDDEN LOVE, by Sarah Vaughn (Alex + Ada) and Lan Medina (FABLES)!
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Price: $9.99
Read This Comic: Order via Amazon, or read digitally via comiXology

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.