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Plunge #1-6
Plunge
There's something terribly wrong with them. And the storm closes in.
The research ship Derleth disappeared in the Arctic forty years ago... so when its crew is found, why haven't they aged a day? How did they become capable of feats of unbelievable mathematics? And for God's sake, what happend to their eyes?
Collects #1-6
The research ship Derleth disappeared in the Arctic forty years ago... so when its crew is found, why haven't they aged a day? How did they become capable of feats of unbelievable mathematics? And for God's sake, what happend to their eyes?
Collects #1-6
168 pages, Hardcover
First published November 17, 2020
About the author
Joe Hill
458 books27.6k followersJoe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
September 1, 2020
This was terrific! A salvage crew goes to investigate a boat that's been missing for 40 years in the Arctic Sea. They find the ship wrecked on an atoll and a whole lot more. Hill borrows from some of the best horror influences. There's a little Aliens, some of The Thing, and some Lovecraft all mixed into this in the best ways.
Stuart Immonen's art is fantastic. He should ink his own work more often. Particularly when Dave Stewart is providing the colors.
Stuart Immonen's art is fantastic. He should ink his own work more often. Particularly when Dave Stewart is providing the colors.
November 29, 2020
40 years ago the Derleth went missing off the coast of Alaska with all hands. Except now, suddenly, a signal from the lost ship begins transmitting again! A mysterious businessman charters a shipping crew for a salvage mission to the wreck in the middle of nowhere. Could the crew still be alive - and, if not, what onboard is broadcasting the signal…?
I like the premise and look of Plunge more than the execution. Lovecraftian stories are my jam and this is Lovecraftian as hell: there are cosmic alien horrors manifesting as giant tentacled monsters tearing apart reality, shambolic zombies toting weird talismans, not to mention the nod to August Derleth, HP Lovecraft’s first publisher.
But Joe HIll doesn’t do much besides slowly introduce these elements then drearily smoosh them together for a predictably Hollywood-esque finale. Hands emerging from the dark, corpse bags slowly unzipping, eyeless figures, “call us… Legion”, corpses talking but only one person hears - it’s all stuff I’ve seen before in many other horror stories trotted out again unoriginally.
The Ingot is like any other Macguffin that does whatever a spider can and the ending is too pat, almost cliched, in the way it wraps everything up. I didn’t understand why the Derleth would contain a “lifeboat” for these creatures and it’s just a bit too convenient that it’s protected by something that’s fatal to them but not to humans, providing a contrived conclusion to close out on.
The cast of characters are an unremarkable bunch, none of whom leave much of an impression, and their banter was mostly irritating and tedious (all that rubbish about the coffee - ugh! Also, how does anyone jump to the conclusion that the coffee wards off possession?!).
I also didn’t get why they would scrawl out Pi in its entirety - it just seems like something that seems cool and spooky in a story but doesn’t make sense from the perspective of the ones actually doing it. And there’s not a lot of it but the untranslated Russian was annoying - why have this for an English-speaking audience? And if it’s because the dialogue itself is easily-imagined and irrelevant, why include these scenes to begin with?
Stuart Immonen’s art is superb, particularly when you add Dave Stewart’s colours. The Lovecraftian monster designs were awesome and I’m pretty sure the mysterious businessman IS Paul Giamatti! I also discovered that fire retardant grenades are actually a real thing which is super cool.
It’s got nice art and a strong premise with interesting aspects but Joe Hill can’t bring it all together into a compelling narrative. Plunge is a dull, wet sea shanty of a horror comic - another Hill House clunker.
I like the premise and look of Plunge more than the execution. Lovecraftian stories are my jam and this is Lovecraftian as hell: there are cosmic alien horrors manifesting as giant tentacled monsters tearing apart reality, shambolic zombies toting weird talismans, not to mention the nod to August Derleth, HP Lovecraft’s first publisher.
But Joe HIll doesn’t do much besides slowly introduce these elements then drearily smoosh them together for a predictably Hollywood-esque finale. Hands emerging from the dark, corpse bags slowly unzipping, eyeless figures, “call us… Legion”, corpses talking but only one person hears - it’s all stuff I’ve seen before in many other horror stories trotted out again unoriginally.
The Ingot is like any other Macguffin that does whatever a spider can and the ending is too pat, almost cliched, in the way it wraps everything up. I didn’t understand why the Derleth would contain a “lifeboat” for these creatures and it’s just a bit too convenient that it’s protected by something that’s fatal to them but not to humans, providing a contrived conclusion to close out on.
The cast of characters are an unremarkable bunch, none of whom leave much of an impression, and their banter was mostly irritating and tedious (all that rubbish about the coffee - ugh! Also, how does anyone jump to the conclusion that the coffee wards off possession?!).
I also didn’t get why they would scrawl out Pi in its entirety - it just seems like something that seems cool and spooky in a story but doesn’t make sense from the perspective of the ones actually doing it. And there’s not a lot of it but the untranslated Russian was annoying - why have this for an English-speaking audience? And if it’s because the dialogue itself is easily-imagined and irrelevant, why include these scenes to begin with?
Stuart Immonen’s art is superb, particularly when you add Dave Stewart’s colours. The Lovecraftian monster designs were awesome and I’m pretty sure the mysterious businessman IS Paul Giamatti! I also discovered that fire retardant grenades are actually a real thing which is super cool.
It’s got nice art and a strong premise with interesting aspects but Joe Hill can’t bring it all together into a compelling narrative. Plunge is a dull, wet sea shanty of a horror comic - another Hill House clunker.
October 5, 2021
This was absolutely fantastic — easily one of the best releases in this new Hill House line so far. The art took a little time to grow on me, but the characters are so enjoyable and the plot is genuinely unsettling and dreadful, right down to the bone. This is going down as one of my favorite cosmic horror media pieces, no question, not only for the fear factor and the otherworldly appeal of the villains, but for how effortlessly Joe Hill made me love our little cast of misfit heroes, too.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!
June 24, 2021
The Thing meets Cthulhu with beautiful artwork.
August 26, 2020
I absolutely loved this one. It's definitely a toss-up between this and 'Basketful of Heads' for best Hill House horror title. It wears its influences on its sleeve but the execution is SO good that you can forgive its borrowing of certain horror/SF tropes from Lovecraft and 'Aliens'. The artwork is absolutely fantastic; Stuart Immonen's work has never looked so good; he should ink his own pencils more often.
I'm really hoping this isn't it for the Hill House line. I really enjoyed it, for the most part, and I'm eagerly anticipating any news of a second wave.
I'm really hoping this isn't it for the Hill House line. I really enjoyed it, for the most part, and I'm eagerly anticipating any news of a second wave.
August 7, 2024
This was really, really good. It mixes elements of Lovecraft's cosmic horror with John W. Campbell's (or Carpenter, if you're a modernist) The Thing and produces a contemporary bit of frozen sea horror that would have made William Hope Hodgson proud. You can even see a bit of Tolkienesque influence if you hold your eyes right. The art is very good, though it's not terrifically detailed; it does serve to enhance the story and tells some sections quite strikingly on its own. Highly recommended for fans of horror comics.
January 11, 2023
This was an amazing read and omg maybe my fav Hill house comic I have read so far. The story is like a crew of a ship missing and then signals coming 40 yeras later so a salvage crew sent to rescue them and find out some secret and the crew is the people like Carpenter brothers aka Gage, Clark and Russell and Moriah, another diver/biologist and some others but what we find our crew seeing over the course of the series will change a lot of things and then the character work done is brilliant, the slow mysteries unravelling, what are these creatures haunting them and the big stuff with the crew that happened and so much more, mysticism, cosmic horror, fear of the depths/unknown, and a solid ending filled with heart <3!
This series has it all, over the course of the series I really started to love all the Carpenter brothers and seeing how they are ready for sacrificing themselves was brilliant and that feeling made this an even better read ad then the big threat (which could have used a issue or two) but regardless makes for a good threat and by the end has you hooked and delivers on a solid ending, plus the art of Immonen which makes this series even better! I will highly recommend it for maybe a day you feel like in horror spirit or on Halloween days!
This series has it all, over the course of the series I really started to love all the Carpenter brothers and seeing how they are ready for sacrificing themselves was brilliant and that feeling made this an even better read ad then the big threat (which could have used a issue or two) but regardless makes for a good threat and by the end has you hooked and delivers on a solid ending, plus the art of Immonen which makes this series even better! I will highly recommend it for maybe a day you feel like in horror spirit or on Halloween days!
May 31, 2022
In the aftermath of a devastating tsunami, an exploration vessel known as the Derleth begins sending an automated distress signal from a remote atoll in the Bering Strait. The only problem is that the Derleth has been missing for 40 years. Marine biologist Moriah Lamb joins the Carpenter Wreck Removal team to recover the Derleth’s dead, only to find that in this remote part of the Arctic Circle, the dead have plenty to say to the living.
This was a neat little comic. It wasn’t high-art by any means, but it’s a nice love letter to all things ‘80s horror. It feels very much like a John Carpenter horror movie from that time in comic book form, which I believe is exactly what Joe Hill was going for. He’s joined by Stuart Immonen, who does fantastic work penciling and inking the story, while the incredible Dave Stewart knocks it out of the park on the coloring work. I usually write longer reviews, but every other review on here has summed up this comics' pros and cons better than I could, so go read those. I liked this a lot though, as there’s still a solid-enough story here that anyone who likes horror can enjoy. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes ‘80s horror flicks like I do.
This was a neat little comic. It wasn’t high-art by any means, but it’s a nice love letter to all things ‘80s horror. It feels very much like a John Carpenter horror movie from that time in comic book form, which I believe is exactly what Joe Hill was going for. He’s joined by Stuart Immonen, who does fantastic work penciling and inking the story, while the incredible Dave Stewart knocks it out of the park on the coloring work. I usually write longer reviews, but every other review on here has summed up this comics' pros and cons better than I could, so go read those. I liked this a lot though, as there’s still a solid-enough story here that anyone who likes horror can enjoy. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes ‘80s horror flicks like I do.
December 3, 2020
Joe Hill says this is a tribute to the works of H. P. Lovecraft and the films of John Carpenter. Neither of those guys do much for me, which might explain why this book didn't do much for me.
I was annoyed that math stuff was thrown around like it was important to the series but was really used for nothing but window dressing. Mentioning pi does not make this men vs. monsters tale deeper or more interesting.
I was annoyed that math stuff was thrown around like it was important to the series but was really used for nothing but window dressing. Mentioning pi does not make this men vs. monsters tale deeper or more interesting.
December 26, 2022
Another great Joe Hill publication.
'Spooky, huh? Real ghost story stuff. Ship of the dead. Like a lonely voice calling out from a house you know is empty.'
Great artwork, a fun and gory story plus plenty of strangeness going on. What more could you want?
'Maybe he heard Russel playing "Wonderwall" on his mandolin and decided suicide was the only way out.'
'Spooky, huh? Real ghost story stuff. Ship of the dead. Like a lonely voice calling out from a house you know is empty.'
Great artwork, a fun and gory story plus plenty of strangeness going on. What more could you want?
'Maybe he heard Russel playing "Wonderwall" on his mandolin and decided suicide was the only way out.'
February 21, 2021
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
Humans are filled with motives of all kind, orienting their actions, especially when facing adversity. Drawing upon their most basic desires while fearing the most terrifying outcomes pertaining to their well-being, their actions lead them to make decisions that are beyond principles of utilitarianism. Thankfully, some individuals will sacrifice themselves for the greater good, especially if the end of the world is around the corner. The final story published under the Hill House Comics—at least for the time being—now belongs once again to the curator himself, writer Joe Hill, who teams up with artist Stuart Immonen to explore a mission to an isolated island where unfathomable terrors lurk and bide their time to finally crawl out of the darkness and wreak havoc.
What is Plunge about? Back in 1983, an impeccable and renown drilling ship known as the Derleth goes missing near the Arctic Circle. Decades later, the Rococo oil company hires the Carpenter brothers to investigate odd distress signals coming from that very long-ago disappeared ghost ship. With a marine biologist and an oil executive, the team embarks on a treacherous adventure only to discover that the crew that should have been dead has somehow survived and they now have answers to humanity’s greatest questions that no one has ever solved to this day. Unfortunately for the team, their rescue mission turns into a survival game, one where the stakes implicate the fate of humanity that now rests upon the shoulders of peculiar individuals, some with the most vile vices.
Without hiding anything from his readers, writer Joe Hill channels his inner H.P. Lovecraft, Ridley Scott, and John Carpenter to deliver a brilliant horror story with the right amount of dark humour to counterbalance the ghastly horror elements. As the story progresses, he brilliantly and methodically unveils the shape and form of the imminent danger, a pool of menace that the characters unfortunately find themselves in. While the story grows at a steady pace all the way to the grand finale, writer Joe Hill also does an excellent job in meticulously exploring his characters in the little timeframe he has. He allows each and every one of them the chance to showcase their personalities and contribute in some way to the unfolding of events, clearly impacting the outcome of their escapade as they all debate individual and world interests to decide how they wish to act if they are to survive or die honourably.
As noted by writer Joe Hill in his afterword, this graphic novel also succeeds immensely thanks to artist Stuart Immonen’s stunning artwork. His concept art is impeccable, his grasp on developing eerie atmospheres is mind-boggling, and his ability to draw emotionally-nuanced characters is indubitable. The story itself isn’t told to scare readers through raw gore and horror but rather instore a sense of fear within the narrative through ideas and Stuart Immonen’s artwork achieves the necessary terror to remind us that the threat presented here should not be taken lightly. Not to mention that colourist Dave Stewart’s work is the ultimate touch that gives this volume the tone and mood needed to immerse the reader in a captivating story that they won’t be disappointed to discover.
Plunge is a chilling horror story exploring humanity’s fear and greed on top of their genuine sense of solidarity and fraternity in the face of evil.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
March 15, 2022
My likes and dislikes! Everyone loves a list.
Likes:
- sea-involved horror: although I like the underwater kind more, there's none of that here
- the weird objects: those were fun, although one of them was clearly a Chekhov's Gun
- the art: it's really good!
- cosmic horror involving mathematics: it's an interesting idea, although it feels a bit underused
- Derleth: a nice little nod
Dislikes:
- silly monster designs: why always go for the insect-like, it feels lazy, is not scary
- stupid scientists: some Prometheus-like idiotic decisions here
- so much dialogue: and not all of it felt necessary? felt like it could've been edited down, and nothing would be lost
- manly-man bullshit: a character calling out that bullshit doesn't make it less bullshitty
- the prison: why is the hatch so human-like (I'm ignoring the sticker as I think it's a little joke)
- rushed Hollywood ending: six issues and still it feels rushed, and the epilogue can't have surprised anyone
End of list.
Likes:
- sea-involved horror: although I like the underwater kind more, there's none of that here
- the weird objects: those were fun, although one of them was clearly a Chekhov's Gun
- the art: it's really good!
- cosmic horror involving mathematics: it's an interesting idea, although it feels a bit underused
- Derleth: a nice little nod
Dislikes:
- silly monster designs: why always go for the insect-like, it feels lazy, is not scary
- stupid scientists: some Prometheus-like idiotic decisions here
- so much dialogue: and not all of it felt necessary? felt like it could've been edited down, and nothing would be lost
- manly-man bullshit: a character calling out that bullshit doesn't make it less bullshitty
- the prison: why is the hatch so human-like (I'm ignoring the sticker as I think it's a little joke)
- rushed Hollywood ending: six issues and still it feels rushed, and the epilogue can't have surprised anyone
End of list.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2022
3,5
El Derleth, es un buque desaparecido en 1983 con toda su tripulación a bordo, y 40 años después, extrañamente, hace llegar una señal de socorro. Ante este hecho, una compañía petrolífera contrata a una tripulación de rescate para investigar que es lo que está sucediendo. Y se embarcan en una misión que dará comienzo a sangrienta travesía marítima.
Me ha gustado el desarrollo de la historia, aunque en las primera páginas me incitó a seguir leyendo más la temática que lo que estaba leyendo, a medida que avanza los personajes y la trama hacen un contexto entretenido y muy sangriento.
En cuanto a los villanos, a pesar de no ser algo original o novedoso me gusta mucho cómo crean una atmósfera siniestra desembocando en algo mucho más grande y tipo lovecraftiano.
El Derleth, es un buque desaparecido en 1983 con toda su tripulación a bordo, y 40 años después, extrañamente, hace llegar una señal de socorro. Ante este hecho, una compañía petrolífera contrata a una tripulación de rescate para investigar que es lo que está sucediendo. Y se embarcan en una misión que dará comienzo a sangrienta travesía marítima.
Me ha gustado el desarrollo de la historia, aunque en las primera páginas me incitó a seguir leyendo más la temática que lo que estaba leyendo, a medida que avanza los personajes y la trama hacen un contexto entretenido y muy sangriento.
En cuanto a los villanos, a pesar de no ser algo original o novedoso me gusta mucho cómo crean una atmósfera siniestra desembocando en algo mucho más grande y tipo lovecraftiano.
September 28, 2020
Creepy location, creepier antagonists, explosive conclusion - everything you want in a horror tale.
December 2, 2020
The atmosphere feels very "The Thing" and Joe Hill basically says this is his tribute to it. I mean the main guys last name is Carpenter so...lolz.
But the story is basically a group of "deep divers" or "retrieval divers" whatever the name is it, go to a island to find out what happened to a old ship crew. Upon getting there the dead seem to come back to life. Don't worry, not a zombie tale. With the group of divers not unsure of everything and the old crew, thought to be dead, now possessed by something and asking for "freedom" what will happen next?
Joe Hill does a solid plot here with a pretty interesting turn of events. I mean, the main plot is pretty simple and seen it before. It's the characters that are fun and the deaths I didn't expect happening to keep me coming back. It also helps the art is fantastic, and feels like a 80's or 90's horror film.
While I thought the ending wrapped up too quick and a bit cliché, I still enjoyed it. Not as much as Basketcase but overall fun horror story. A 3.5 out of 5.
But the story is basically a group of "deep divers" or "retrieval divers" whatever the name is it, go to a island to find out what happened to a old ship crew. Upon getting there the dead seem to come back to life. Don't worry, not a zombie tale. With the group of divers not unsure of everything and the old crew, thought to be dead, now possessed by something and asking for "freedom" what will happen next?
Joe Hill does a solid plot here with a pretty interesting turn of events. I mean, the main plot is pretty simple and seen it before. It's the characters that are fun and the deaths I didn't expect happening to keep me coming back. It also helps the art is fantastic, and feels like a 80's or 90's horror film.
While I thought the ending wrapped up too quick and a bit cliché, I still enjoyed it. Not as much as Basketcase but overall fun horror story. A 3.5 out of 5.
January 8, 2021
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE IN QUOTING THE BOOK, IF YOU MIND THAT DON’T READ THIS BOOK OR MY REVIEW!
This isn’t terrible... just isn’t for me.
What’s it about?
So that’s somewhat hard to describe without spoilers. Basically the main thing to know is there’s some weird shit going on involving water-related things in a certain area. A group is assembled to take care of some things. More weird shit happens and leads our protagonists into a very twisted and perilous situation.
Pros:
The story is pretty good. It’s one of those stories that is weird as hell but still makes sense and I always like that.
The artwork is pretty good.
The pacing is done quite well. It’s not super fast or action-packed but it’s not particularly boring either.
The horror elements can be pretty good. There’s creepy humanoid monsters and very well designed non-human monsters. I definitely dug the monster designs and creepy tone.
Cons:
These characters are rather bland. I didn’t necessarily hate any of them but I didn’t like any of them either. They had no personality and little background, nothing changed about that as the book went on, everyone in this book is just uninteresting.
This book is mostly predictable. There were a few moments I guess but for the most part I saw things coming before they happened.
There’s some attempts at humor throughout and they’re rarely funny IMO.
So I seem to pretty much always have this complaint with Joe Hill’s work but the dialogue is just bad. I was shaking my head at some of it in this comic.
This book does this thing of trying too hard to be edgy. Like, I didn’t particularly mind the level of explicit content (hell a lot of the shit I consume in entertainment is way more graphic than this) but in context it often feels like it’s just there to be there, especially sexual references and profanity. The weirdest part is despite that it’s actually not very edgy at all, just feels kinda stupid, for example: there’s one character who is introduced holding a big dildo in his hand (Why? A weak attempt at shock value humor that even only moderately edgy comedy such as Family Guy is more shocking than on a regular basis) or lines like “Fuck the fucking fuck are you?” (I mean my followers know I tend to swear a lot but this line barely even makes sense).
There’s a few pages where the dialogue is in Russian. This kinda annoys me, most comics with characters speaking a foreign language just include the dialogue in English for the reader. Honestly it is a minor and probably sorta stupid complaint but would you wanna read a book in a language you don’t understand? Since most of this comic is in English and there’s no clue of what the Russian dialogue is saying (unless you wanna find all those letters and put those lines through a translation app or happen to speak Russian) it’s a kinda stupid move IMO.
The ending was somewhat cliche and not very well executed.
Overall:
I gotta be honest... I don’t consider Joe Hill a good writer. This is the 4th book I’ve read by this author and honestly, I haven’t given any of them more than 3-stars. Though at the same time he’s not a terrible writer. This isn’t a terrible book, it just isn’t my cup of tea.
Hill definitely has a good story here and Immonen has good art to work very well with it... but it ultimately wasn’t a good book IMO. There’s just too many issues I had with it. It probably works for some horror fans but not really for me.
2/5
This isn’t terrible... just isn’t for me.
What’s it about?
So that’s somewhat hard to describe without spoilers. Basically the main thing to know is there’s some weird shit going on involving water-related things in a certain area. A group is assembled to take care of some things. More weird shit happens and leads our protagonists into a very twisted and perilous situation.
Pros:
The story is pretty good. It’s one of those stories that is weird as hell but still makes sense and I always like that.
The artwork is pretty good.
The pacing is done quite well. It’s not super fast or action-packed but it’s not particularly boring either.
The horror elements can be pretty good. There’s creepy humanoid monsters and very well designed non-human monsters. I definitely dug the monster designs and creepy tone.
Cons:
These characters are rather bland. I didn’t necessarily hate any of them but I didn’t like any of them either. They had no personality and little background, nothing changed about that as the book went on, everyone in this book is just uninteresting.
This book is mostly predictable. There were a few moments I guess but for the most part I saw things coming before they happened.
There’s some attempts at humor throughout and they’re rarely funny IMO.
So I seem to pretty much always have this complaint with Joe Hill’s work but the dialogue is just bad. I was shaking my head at some of it in this comic.
This book does this thing of trying too hard to be edgy. Like, I didn’t particularly mind the level of explicit content (hell a lot of the shit I consume in entertainment is way more graphic than this) but in context it often feels like it’s just there to be there, especially sexual references and profanity. The weirdest part is despite that it’s actually not very edgy at all, just feels kinda stupid, for example: there’s one character who is introduced holding a big dildo in his hand (Why? A weak attempt at shock value humor that even only moderately edgy comedy such as Family Guy is more shocking than on a regular basis) or lines like “Fuck the fucking fuck are you?” (I mean my followers know I tend to swear a lot but this line barely even makes sense).
There’s a few pages where the dialogue is in Russian. This kinda annoys me, most comics with characters speaking a foreign language just include the dialogue in English for the reader. Honestly it is a minor and probably sorta stupid complaint but would you wanna read a book in a language you don’t understand? Since most of this comic is in English and there’s no clue of what the Russian dialogue is saying (unless you wanna find all those letters and put those lines through a translation app or happen to speak Russian) it’s a kinda stupid move IMO.
The ending was somewhat cliche and not very well executed.
Overall:
I gotta be honest... I don’t consider Joe Hill a good writer. This is the 4th book I’ve read by this author and honestly, I haven’t given any of them more than 3-stars. Though at the same time he’s not a terrible writer. This isn’t a terrible book, it just isn’t my cup of tea.
Hill definitely has a good story here and Immonen has good art to work very well with it... but it ultimately wasn’t a good book IMO. There’s just too many issues I had with it. It probably works for some horror fans but not really for me.
2/5
October 8, 2021
4.25 stars. Great stuff here. So this company man comes to this salvage crew asking them to do a job for them. The job? A ship that went missing 40+ years ago just had its emergency beacon turn on and he want this crew to take him there as this ship was sent by his company. What they find when they get there is not what they bargained for. Joe Hill does a great job cranking up the suspense over the first two issues leading into the reveal of what’s going on. This leaves the rest of the book for our salvage crew to figure what they are going to do now. Stuart Immonen’s wonderful art brings this creepy tale to life in a major way. Great horror read for October!!
October 24, 2023
Joe Hill saved the best for last in his five-volume Hill House Comics label!
The story takes inspiration from The Thing and Alien movies, and also a touch of the spiral-obsessed Uzumaki manga series. Set in modern-day, a distress signal from a drilling ship lost 40 years ago in the Arctic Circle is heard, so a salvage ship hired by an oil corporation heads out to find it. Onboard are Captain Carpenter, two of his brothers, a marine biologist couple, various crew members and a representative from Rococo International. They are quickly in over their heads when they stopover at an Aleutian Island near the Russian border, and discover the crew members from the Derleth (this is an Easter Egg reference, look up who August Derleth is), who are gaunt and eyeless but haven’t aged.
In a somewhat convoluted storyline, the crew finds out that extraterrestrial worms have taken over the old crew, and they are purely vessels for the alien creatures. The greedy Rococo rep has had a secret agenda (of course) and wants to profit from the aliens with their math knowledge and an other-worldly component that could give them unlimited nuclear power. There are betrayals, deaths and action-packed scenes that will keep readers riveted. I also appreciated the poignancy of the brotherly love the Carpenter men showed one another.
The art by Stuart Immonen was excellent, and his work elevated the story, so I am glad Hill convinced him to come out of retirement for this graphic novel. Often art in horror-themed graphic novels tends towards the sketchy and the dark, but Immonen’s work is precise and detailed, which brings the terror to the forefront more effectively. He really captured the personalities of different characters and made my heart go pitter-patter for the bearded captain, and that the alien creatures are Lovecraftian is an added bonus. The color palette by Dave Stewart was appropriately ocean-inspired with grey, blue and dull greens and the letterer Deron Bennett had fun with the opening chapter pages as he converted words into a new mathematical language.
This new Hill House label has been uneven, yet very promising. The two titles penned by Hill, including Basketful of Heads were the best of the bunch, yet I appreciated that the horror-inspired graphic novels included a variety of authors to reach different audiences. Here’s to hoping there will be future Hill House stories! (Actual review 4.5/5)
Review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2020/11/1...
The story takes inspiration from The Thing and Alien movies, and also a touch of the spiral-obsessed Uzumaki manga series. Set in modern-day, a distress signal from a drilling ship lost 40 years ago in the Arctic Circle is heard, so a salvage ship hired by an oil corporation heads out to find it. Onboard are Captain Carpenter, two of his brothers, a marine biologist couple, various crew members and a representative from Rococo International. They are quickly in over their heads when they stopover at an Aleutian Island near the Russian border, and discover the crew members from the Derleth (this is an Easter Egg reference, look up who August Derleth is), who are gaunt and eyeless but haven’t aged.
In a somewhat convoluted storyline, the crew finds out that extraterrestrial worms have taken over the old crew, and they are purely vessels for the alien creatures. The greedy Rococo rep has had a secret agenda (of course) and wants to profit from the aliens with their math knowledge and an other-worldly component that could give them unlimited nuclear power. There are betrayals, deaths and action-packed scenes that will keep readers riveted. I also appreciated the poignancy of the brotherly love the Carpenter men showed one another.
The art by Stuart Immonen was excellent, and his work elevated the story, so I am glad Hill convinced him to come out of retirement for this graphic novel. Often art in horror-themed graphic novels tends towards the sketchy and the dark, but Immonen’s work is precise and detailed, which brings the terror to the forefront more effectively. He really captured the personalities of different characters and made my heart go pitter-patter for the bearded captain, and that the alien creatures are Lovecraftian is an added bonus. The color palette by Dave Stewart was appropriately ocean-inspired with grey, blue and dull greens and the letterer Deron Bennett had fun with the opening chapter pages as he converted words into a new mathematical language.
This new Hill House label has been uneven, yet very promising. The two titles penned by Hill, including Basketful of Heads were the best of the bunch, yet I appreciated that the horror-inspired graphic novels included a variety of authors to reach different audiences. Here’s to hoping there will be future Hill House stories! (Actual review 4.5/5)
Review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2020/11/1...
August 31, 2020
I enjoyed this novella for what it worth. A nice, sort of retro 1950s, IMO, blast of science fiction mixed with horror. I find it difficult to think of a rescue/salvage ship sent off to the Artic to see if anyone can be saved from another ship that lost communications with no explanation without thinking of The Thing (movie not the novella).
When the salvage crew reaches the site they discover, for lack of a better term, zombies being controlled by alien creatures inside of them.
There is not a whole of characterization here, nor can there be in a six issue series. It pretty much has to be story driven to work, unless the writer is going to pour themselves into one character and make every other character one dimensional (which lessens the horror aspect for when something does happen to the salvage crew). Maybe no one character makes it much past two dimensional, but that little bit of attention to detail and character should enable most readers to care when something goes awry for the crew.
When the salvage crew reaches the site they discover, for lack of a better term, zombies being controlled by alien creatures inside of them.
There is not a whole of characterization here, nor can there be in a six issue series. It pretty much has to be story driven to work, unless the writer is going to pour themselves into one character and make every other character one dimensional (which lessens the horror aspect for when something does happen to the salvage crew). Maybe no one character makes it much past two dimensional, but that little bit of attention to detail and character should enable most readers to care when something goes awry for the crew.
December 7, 2020
When the best part of a horror novel is running dildo jokes, you know that there’s some trouble. Not that there is anything wrong with the dildo jokes - they are quite funny - but the rest of the comic is just not as remarkable. The setup, an emergency beacon suddenly lights from a ship lost in the ‘80s, is a lot of fun. There are also some interesting moments throughout, a few laugh out loud moments of dialogue, and one compelling character, Lacome, because he has at least some depth.
Outside of that, this was a rather more dull story than it should have been. I never quite felt any terror, and that comes from Hill’s mistake of introducing the monster too early (the apple doesn’t fall far in the Stephen King family tree in its obsession with creepy crawly alien bugs). Besides being funny, the monster wasn’t very scary. Worse, it was dull. Also dull are most of the characters. The ending, too, was not so great. A shame the story couldn’t be more daring.
Outside of that, this was a rather more dull story than it should have been. I never quite felt any terror, and that comes from Hill’s mistake of introducing the monster too early (the apple doesn’t fall far in the Stephen King family tree in its obsession with creepy crawly alien bugs). Besides being funny, the monster wasn’t very scary. Worse, it was dull. Also dull are most of the characters. The ending, too, was not so great. A shame the story couldn’t be more daring.
February 15, 2021
Definitívne najlepšia vec z Hill Housu. Ten zvyšok mal buď fajn príbeh ale odpornú kresbu alebo naopak, alebo ani jedno. Toto bolo skvelé, pútavé, výborne nakreslené, žiadna z postáv mi neliezla na nervy, tie potvory boli boží, rozkladajúce sa telá ešte viac. Trochu predvídateľné miestami, ale beztak skvelá vec ktorá má parádnu kresbu a výborný coloring. Za mňa 5 plných. Škoda že tak dobrý nebol aj zvyšok Hill House vecí..
December 3, 2020
I am a huge fan of Joe Hill and I didn't even know that this comic book series was a thing. My dad ended up sending it to me having originally thought this was a new Joe Hill novel and instead, upon it arrival, having learned it was a graphic novel, sent it my way instead. Having read a good chunk of Hill's works, this was like reading the best tribute to a horror movie classic that I could imagine. Hill's clear as day tribute to The Thing throughout this graphic novel is incredible. He manages to tell his own story while at the same time making it clear what original source he is paying tribute to. This work truly reminded me why I love Joe Hill as much as I do and it was a great in between to read before diving into a new novel!
November 3, 2020
(4,1 of 5 for excellent Carpenter-ish horror about one long lost ship and it's crew)
The Plunge is one from the first round of the Hill House horrors. And it's great. It adds to the variety of horror stories under Hill House, which is awesome - every story is different sub-genre, Hill curates this brand well.
The Plunge openly tributes to Carpenter's horror (for start with the name of the salvage party captain) and it's doing good service to it. The story is a good balance of horror cliché and new twists, nicely developing the mystery, danger and the thrill. The art is decent and works well for the story.
The Plunge is one from the first round of the Hill House horrors. And it's great. It adds to the variety of horror stories under Hill House, which is awesome - every story is different sub-genre, Hill curates this brand well.
The Plunge openly tributes to Carpenter's horror (for start with the name of the salvage party captain) and it's doing good service to it. The story is a good balance of horror cliché and new twists, nicely developing the mystery, danger and the thrill. The art is decent and works well for the story.
February 8, 2021
1.5* I was very excited to start all the Hill House books and so far, I am not impressed. This was my second book from Hill House and both books (Plunge & Baskeful of Heads) were disappointing.
August 18, 2023
Had the promise to be better. Left me wanting.
Not that I expected it to be a milestone or whatever but in its own genre it could have been better told. Less rushed if nothing else.
The book is an obvious homage to 80’s horror flicks, Carpenter’s the thing being #1. So of course tropes and clichés characters are a dime a dozen. The traitor and the red shirts are immediately identified for instance; but that’s the name of the game so I’ll go with it.
What troubled me most is :
- the lack of characterization of the final girl- she’s witty and she’s british, a bit thin to actually root for her- and every other character for that matter.
- the unexplainable lack of reaction from the protagonists when confronted to spoilery stuff.
- useless unexplained pseudo-leads (the drowned pillar, the calculation of pi)
- the rushed up ending.
Still, it’s entertaining enough and there’s some pretty good horror scenes, magnified by Stuart Immonen amazing art and Dave Stewart’s perfect colours.
Not that I expected it to be a milestone or whatever but in its own genre it could have been better told. Less rushed if nothing else.
The book is an obvious homage to 80’s horror flicks, Carpenter’s the thing being #1. So of course tropes and clichés characters are a dime a dozen. The traitor and the red shirts are immediately identified for instance; but that’s the name of the game so I’ll go with it.
What troubled me most is :
- the lack of characterization of the final girl- she’s witty and she’s british, a bit thin to actually root for her- and every other character for that matter.
- the unexplainable lack of reaction from the protagonists when confronted to spoilery stuff.
- useless unexplained pseudo-leads (the drowned pillar, the calculation of pi)
- the rushed up ending.
Still, it’s entertaining enough and there’s some pretty good horror scenes, magnified by Stuart Immonen amazing art and Dave Stewart’s perfect colours.
June 25, 2021
THIS WAS FANTASTIC!! Joe Hill is knocking it out of the park lately with his recent comics. I adored Basketful of Heads and I think it still has the edge over his newest, Plunge, but not by much.
Nostalgia. Definitely check this out if you are a fan of modern works that take you back to classic 80's horror movies. Plunge feels like a John Carpenter movie with a touch of Wes Craven cheese and I'm not gonna lie, I could eat this kind of thing up all day long! This book had a good balance of both frightening and funny, which is a mix I'm often temperamental about, but here, it just worked.
Characters. I loved the characters in this book. They are real and funny and I grew to care about them quickly. This is a one-off story, but Hill is SO good at making me like his protagonists (and his antagonists) within a very short amount of time.
Story. Horror stories set in the arctic are immediately 10x scarier to me because the level of cold and desolation that exists in such places is a horror story all of its own. Add a ghost ship to the mix, a touch of Lovecraft, some body horror, and you've got something special.
Also, Hill is really good at writing comics. He does a great job balancing dialogue and visual information in a way that makes the story feel both natural and cinematic. I hate it when graphic novels use a ton of forced exposition, but you don't have to worry about that here.
Art. Stuart Immonen's illustrations are excellent. The color work is stunning.
I rated Plunge by Joe Hill 5 out of 5 stars.
You might like this if you like: 80's nostalgia horror, artic settings, and badass art.
Nostalgia. Definitely check this out if you are a fan of modern works that take you back to classic 80's horror movies. Plunge feels like a John Carpenter movie with a touch of Wes Craven cheese and I'm not gonna lie, I could eat this kind of thing up all day long! This book had a good balance of both frightening and funny, which is a mix I'm often temperamental about, but here, it just worked.
Characters. I loved the characters in this book. They are real and funny and I grew to care about them quickly. This is a one-off story, but Hill is SO good at making me like his protagonists (and his antagonists) within a very short amount of time.
Story. Horror stories set in the arctic are immediately 10x scarier to me because the level of cold and desolation that exists in such places is a horror story all of its own. Add a ghost ship to the mix, a touch of Lovecraft, some body horror, and you've got something special.
Also, Hill is really good at writing comics. He does a great job balancing dialogue and visual information in a way that makes the story feel both natural and cinematic. I hate it when graphic novels use a ton of forced exposition, but you don't have to worry about that here.
Art. Stuart Immonen's illustrations are excellent. The color work is stunning.
I rated Plunge by Joe Hill 5 out of 5 stars.
You might like this if you like: 80's nostalgia horror, artic settings, and badass art.
November 9, 2021
Hay una página al comienzo del tebeo que marca un poco los problemas que tiene Hill con los guiones de cómic. Explican cómo un barco que lleva hundido cuatro décadas no sólo ha comenzado a emitir una señal de socorro sino que esa señal sólo se recibe en las horas centrales del día. Este fragmento le lleva a Hill sus viñetas en un diálogo bien cargadito de palabras que apenas importan porque no tienen relevancia para lo que va a ocurrir después. O, más bien, importan demasiado porque retrasan el inicio de una historia que es un inmenso lugar común y que tampoco define demasiado a los personajes que participan en él. Esto, que en una novela podría tener su sentido, ocurre bastantes veces a lo largo de un tebeo que tiene un pase como acumulación de homenajes a películas de terror de los 70 y los 80, pero que desbarra cuando se aleja de esa "inspiración" y busca su imaginería propia. No hay más que mirar a un último número que parece un homenaje al tapón del desenlace de Perdidos, pero con muchísimo menos sentido. Además con un guión muy de peña hablando y poco de acción, Immonen se luce pero también tropieza al desarrollar escenas que requerían más viñetas (desperdiciadas en otros momentos).
La lectura me ha llevado a acordarme de Ocean que, con una base también muy arraigada en otras obras, esta vez de cf clásica, contaba con un guión mucho mejor medido que permitía el lucimiento de su dibujante (Chris Sprouse). Pero claro, detrás estaba un guionista de tebeos que comprende bastante bien el medio (Warren Ellis) y este tipo de productos entre el homenaje/explotation y "a ver si me compran los derechos para hacer una película".
La lectura me ha llevado a acordarme de Ocean que, con una base también muy arraigada en otras obras, esta vez de cf clásica, contaba con un guión mucho mejor medido que permitía el lucimiento de su dibujante (Chris Sprouse). Pero claro, detrás estaba un guionista de tebeos que comprende bastante bien el medio (Warren Ellis) y este tipo de productos entre el homenaje/explotation y "a ver si me compran los derechos para hacer una película".
July 23, 2021
“Plunge” is one of four titles for DC’s Black Label graphic novel series written by horror writer Joe Hill. His “Basketful of Heads” was a humorous, silly tongue-in-cheek ode to ‘80s slasher flicks. “Plunge” is more of a serious balls-to-the-wall gorefest.
Like many of Hill’s works, “Plunge” is pretty derivative. It’s a bit of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, a pinch of George Cosmatos’s “Leviathan”, and a soupçon of James Cameron’s “Aliens”. Throw in a taste of George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead”, and you’ll get the idea of what Hill’s doing. Oh wait, I almost forgot about the (pretty blatant) H.P. Lovecraft references.
If you’re a horror fan, none of this is probably a bad thing. It’s actually kind of fun, in a way, catching all the references to some classic horror films. Unfortunately, it’s just not that original.
Don’t get me wrong, though: I still enjoyed it, and I’d recommend it for Hill fans and anyone who likes a good and creepy ghost-ship-in-the-Arctic-lost-for-forty-years-that-suddenly-sends-a-distress-signal-and-is-discovered-to-harbor-a-zombified-crew-possessed-by-an-ancient-underwater-creature-that-looks-an-awful-lot-like-Cthullu-and-may-be-an-extraterrestrial-lifeform-that-crashed-billions-of-years-ago tale.
By the way, there is some math involved in this. Also, jumbo-sized black dildos somehow work themselves into the plot.
Seriously, if that doesn’t intrigue you, I’m not sure what will.
Like many of Hill’s works, “Plunge” is pretty derivative. It’s a bit of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, a pinch of George Cosmatos’s “Leviathan”, and a soupçon of James Cameron’s “Aliens”. Throw in a taste of George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead”, and you’ll get the idea of what Hill’s doing. Oh wait, I almost forgot about the (pretty blatant) H.P. Lovecraft references.
If you’re a horror fan, none of this is probably a bad thing. It’s actually kind of fun, in a way, catching all the references to some classic horror films. Unfortunately, it’s just not that original.
Don’t get me wrong, though: I still enjoyed it, and I’d recommend it for Hill fans and anyone who likes a good and creepy ghost-ship-in-the-Arctic-lost-for-forty-years-that-suddenly-sends-a-distress-signal-and-is-discovered-to-harbor-a-zombified-crew-possessed-by-an-ancient-underwater-creature-that-looks-an-awful-lot-like-Cthullu-and-may-be-an-extraterrestrial-lifeform-that-crashed-billions-of-years-ago tale.
By the way, there is some math involved in this. Also, jumbo-sized black dildos somehow work themselves into the plot.
Seriously, if that doesn’t intrigue you, I’m not sure what will.
April 15, 2021
Plunge offers superb cosmic horror in a fast-paced package, marred only by the typical horror trope of characters not at all being scared by the unusual situation. Namely, a salvage ship heads to a little-visited Aleutian island and encounters the undead survivors of an earlier shipwreck. Even the toughest person, weathered and cynical, would likely hyperventilate a little when an army of eye-less zombies crawl out of caves on a mysterious island.
That none of the characters in Plunge do so is really the only disappointment in a book that's otherwise wall-to-wall scary fun. The zombie survivors are, of course, merely vessels for something even more dangerous and outrageous. And the salvage crew is peopled with interesting individuals who often have diverging ideas about how to handle the situation. Like Basketful of Heads, Plunge is Joe Hill's love letter to 80s horror cinema, and it does an excellent job of both mimicking and updating the classics of that genre. Add in Stuart Immonen's incredible art and this is a must-read.
That none of the characters in Plunge do so is really the only disappointment in a book that's otherwise wall-to-wall scary fun. The zombie survivors are, of course, merely vessels for something even more dangerous and outrageous. And the salvage crew is peopled with interesting individuals who often have diverging ideas about how to handle the situation. Like Basketful of Heads, Plunge is Joe Hill's love letter to 80s horror cinema, and it does an excellent job of both mimicking and updating the classics of that genre. Add in Stuart Immonen's incredible art and this is a must-read.
August 27, 2020
A salvage crew goes to the Arctic Circle to recover a scientific exploration ship that went missing over 40 years ago. They don’t expect survivors ... Surprise MF’ers!
This was a well done science-fiction, (light) horror thriller. Not so heartfelt as The Abyss. More like the campy, horror thrills of Deep Rising. It’s not ground breaking (moist, monsters in the dark). But it’s done well, even if a bit predictable.
The script, specifically the dialogue between the crew, was great. I loved Captain Carpenter. Is he a nod to John Carpenter? I don’t know. However, the entire story felt like a homage.
The art and the coloring were nice. It was cool, moody and atmospheric. And those Gary Frank variant covers ... all love.
In short, if you like a quick, deep-sea jaunt, this is a good one. I do wish it was longer. I really enjoyed some of the characters.
I read this in single issue format (1-6).
This was a well done science-fiction, (light) horror thriller. Not so heartfelt as The Abyss. More like the campy, horror thrills of Deep Rising. It’s not ground breaking (moist, monsters in the dark). But it’s done well, even if a bit predictable.
The script, specifically the dialogue between the crew, was great. I loved Captain Carpenter. Is he a nod to John Carpenter? I don’t know. However, the entire story felt like a homage.
The art and the coloring were nice. It was cool, moody and atmospheric. And those Gary Frank variant covers ... all love.
In short, if you like a quick, deep-sea jaunt, this is a good one. I do wish it was longer. I really enjoyed some of the characters.
I read this in single issue format (1-6).
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