By Zack Quaintance — Since it first launched back in 2018, Gideon Falls has presented itself as a horror comic. And it’s certainly been that for much of its run, owing to the imagery from artist Andrea Sorrentino and colorist Dave Stewart, which at times has made me feel an actual chill (no exaggeration). After reading Gideon Falls #21, however, I’ve noticed a genre shift in this comic from horror to existential mystery, more in line with Twin Peaks (an obvious inspiration for this story throughout) or perhaps Stephen King’s Dark Tower series than any narrative of the straight stab-stab or traditional monster variety.

This 21st chapter of a story that has alternately involved a murder-prone small town as well as character mixed up in a threatening conspiracy in a big city, the true scope of this series is clearest. I won’t go into specifics because, you know, spoilers, but this is a comic that involves alternate worlds, fundamental evils, and, perhaps most surprising at this late junction, metafiction. The latter is the touch that in my mind pushed this book’s genre orientation away from traditional horror and closer to existential mystery.

And while it comes as a surprise that this story is going meta given the narrative (which I may be wrong but I don’t remember implicit hints at that direction), but within the larger context of Jeff Lemire’s career, it fits. Lemire recently made a somewhat surprising (at the time) shift in the direction within his Black Hammer: Age of Doom series as well. The characters in that book, as in this one, are not aware they’re in a story, but the audience is witnessing what’s happening to the characters as a direct result of being fictional. There are things like worlds filled with retired characters (Black Hammer) or explosions that send pieces of the world flying into a giant void from the surfaces of the page (Gideon Falls). 

It makes sense that Lemire — who has been somewhat obsessed with homage as of late in his direct market monthly comics work, as seen in everything from Plutona to Black Hammer to Gideon Falls to The Terrifics — would be moving in this direction. He’s a sharp creator with comics craft, expertly picking collaborators and keeping character motivations at the heart of his familiar stories, and it seems his larger narrative interest has now become Morrisonian, suggesting the nature of reality itself may be invented, that consciousness as we know it is story layered upon story upon story. It’s interesting to see this interest unfold in real time, especially given that Lemire (who once told me in an interview he wasn’t that smart of a writer) follows his creative fancy, rather than overthinking or planning his work.

But you know, even if you’re not following other Lemire comics or even all that interested in what he’s into creatively, this remains an excellent comic book, one I prefer to consume in a tactile paper format to really get the full brunt of Andrea Sorrentino’s industry best panel designs and visual concepts, all of which are made even more memorable by Dave Stewart’s colors. This is the type of story where disorientation works in its favor, allowing the reader to shut down the analytical thinking a bit and disappear into the chill of a great and mysterious story. My loan complaint about this book is that it’s maybe a bit too decompressed, and I can’t help but wonder if this issue would have been better as #18 versus #21. But it’s hard (and admittedly foolish) to make assumptions about pacing. 

Overall: This arc’s finale is a paradigm shift that, like the rest of this book, raises more questions that answers. Gideon Falls continues to use disorientation in its favor, urging readers to shut down analytical thought and disappear into the chill of a great and mysterious story. 9.0/10

Gideon Falls #21
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Solicit: "THE PENTOCULUS," Part Five-Clara comes face-to-face with the Laughing Man (or maybe it's face-to-face-to-face-to-face) as Fred and Angie take a leap of faith through the Multiverse!

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.