HORIZON EXPERIMENT: THE SACRED DAMNED #1

Creative Team: Sabir Pirzada (Writer), Michael Walsh (Artist & Cover Artist), Toni Marie Griffin & Michael Walsh (Colors), Becca Carey (Letters & Design), Tula Lotay (Variant Cover), Will Dennis & Pornsak Pichetshote (Editors)

THE HORIZON EXPERIMENT: THE SACRED DAMNED Published by Image Comics

Check out Matt’s review of the previous issue – The Manchurian #1

THE STORY
The premise behind The Horizon Experiment is to take well known and popular genres and put lead characters in them that are from marginalized backgrounds and see what happens. The first of these one-shots came out a few weeks ago called The Manchurian where the lead character is a Chinese super spy in the vein of James Bond. I really enjoyed that issue and the concept, and hope to see more of it down the road. This particular one-shot, The Sacred Damned, is led by a Muslim professor of the occult who is brought in to look at a situation that may have djinn involved. 

This issue, like the previous one-shot, serves as a one-and-done story, but also serves as a tease of what a lengthier series might provide if sales show it favor. As a one-shot that is just a single story, this is a strong issue. We’re introduced to Kyle who is a star college football player who may or may not have met a djinn when he was a child. He finds himself sleepwalking from time to time and during some of these times he finds himself eating. People around him that find him eating while he’s asleep let him know that he’s also speaking Arabic. These situations start off harmless and escalate to Kyle being found with his girlfriend who has been murdered by Kyle during one of these sleepwalking events. The story kicks into gear when Dr. Inayah Jibril, a Professor of Ethnography and the Occult arrives to help him. The rest of the issue is her getting to the bottom of what is happening to Kyle and the situation resolving in a very interesting way. 

Sabir Pirzada puts together a very good story in about 40 pages. The structure and pacing through this issue is very well done and left me curious about Dr. Jibril and what more could Pirzada put to script if given the opportunity. The later half of this issue hints at a lot more story that can be told just in Dr. Jibril’s background, but also leans heavily into what more could happen in the present day and moving forward. 

THE ART
The interior art provided by Michael Walsh, Toni Marie Griffin, and Becca Carey is excellent. There’s a tone that Pirzada has laid down with the script and Walsh is one of those artists that matches that tone with ease and then takes it up a notch with the coloring alongside Griffin. There’s a good portion of this story that takes place around a campfire allowing Walsh and Griffin a lot of room to mess with lighting and shadows and creating a creepy ambience. 

Becca Carey comes in and adds that extra punch that enhances the page. There are moments throughout the issue where there is something speaking that is otherworldly and the font and coloring that Carey uses brings a sense of sinister danger whenever you see it on the page. 

FINAL THOUGHTS
If this is all I ever read of The Sacred Damned I got a full story that made me happy to sit down and read it. I can be satisfied with that for a little while, but I do hope there’s more of this in the future. The Horizon Experiment one-shots so far have been a lot of fun to read and would be great additions to my monthly reading list. Here’s to hoping we see a lot more in the near future.  

THE RATING
I give this 8 out of 10 finger-licking good midnight snacks.

Want to check out more of my reviews? Click HERE.