Clive Barker’s Nightbreed #6 Retro Review

Here we are, Part 1 of The Blasphemers!  Last issue,the Prelude followed a group of Nightbreed that struck out on their own and decided to eat of the meat.  Meanwhile, Boone, Lori, and Kinski are searching for a Breed that had stayed among the Naturals, a witch named Nickneven, who may have some answers to help Boone find “The Promised Lands.”  D.G. Chichester remains the writer, but we have a new Artist, Brett Blevins, who is mostly remembered for his run on New Mutants from Marvel.

This chapter begins with a monster.  Not a Breed, but a monster of the Natural variety.  An escaped Rapist and Murder stumbles across a little girl playing in the woods.  Readers of the last issue recognize this girl as Tater, a friend of Nickneven.  The man grabs her by the head and discovers that there are other types of monsters in the world…

Boone and Lori come across Tater, and the carnage she has caused.  Tater tells Boone that she knows him, He is Cabal.  This causes a Flashback to when Baphomet first renames Boone and gives him his quest. I didn’t think we really needed this flashback, again.  We are only on Issue Six, and we have seen variations of this for three issues now.  Back in the present, Boone insists that his name is Boone, not Cabal.  Tater ignores him, and has him and Lori follow her to Nickneven. 

I need to interupt the story for a minute and complain about the art of this issue.  I loved the art of the last issue, but Blevins artwork takes me out of the story at times.  Around this point, Nickneven has Tater brush her hair, but it is hard to tell if Nickneven took her own head off, or if she is just kneeling down to where Tater can reach it.  And Boone…he looks horrible in this issue.  There is also some visual continuity issues I will address later. 

The next few pages are reminiscent of the first time we meet Yoda.  Nickneven is crazy as hell, but we know she knows things, so Boone and Lori have to try to put up with it.  Anyways, Ultimately, Boone and Lori don’t really get any useful info from her, but is once again reminded of his responsibilities.  Later in a hotel, Both Lori and Boone act a little out of character as far as how they were in the First four issues.  They both seem to be a little disgusted with themselves for being Breed.  It really seemed out of place.

Meanwhile, at a nearby Diner, our Rogue Breed stop in for a bite to eat.  Here is where the Visual Continuities come in to play.  Piglet seems A LOT bigger than he was last issue, and Aello is suddenly a redhead.  She had white hair last issue.  Dagon seems to have changed color as well, from a Blue/Black/Green to a Red.  It is like he was a licve crab last issue, but now he has been boiled.  Oral also seems to be a lot more eager to partake of the Flesh than he was last time as well, using a drawer full of knives as teeth this time.  The imagery here is pretty cool, but a better version is used as a future Cover, so you will have to wait until then to see it.

It was during this scene that I was also getting upset because one of the group, Fachon (he was was the weird little Eyeball thing), seemed to be missing.  Not even mentioned.  But then we see a trucker trying to escape, and he discovers Fachon waiting for him.  But Fachon is not alone.  He has another smaller Breed with him, Spiderbaby.  Spiderbaby was not in the last issue, but they act like he was there all along.  Of course, the trucker doesn’t survive and our little band (let’s just call them the Blasphemers from here on out) steal the truck.

Later, Oral starts to worry about what is going to happen to them when Baphomet comes back.  Spiderbaby agrees that this is something they should be worried about.  Mulciber will have none of this and tosses Spiderbaby out the window, and then runs over him with the truck.  So Chichester added a character to the group so that he could kill him?  Really?  Anyways, Mulciber says that he plans on killing Boone, so that he can never complete his mission, which means that they can continue with their Carniverous Ways, without worrying about repercussions from Baphomet.  Back at the hotel, Kinski kicks in Boone and Lori’s door trying to tell Boone that there is Breed related trouble.  With Kinski is some new Breed named Guido, and …..Narcisse.  YUP, somehow Narcisse is still Undead and Kicking, and still as inapproriate as ever!  There is no explantion for this.  I think it comes later.  Anyways Boone doesn’t appreciate the interruption, or Breed involvement in his mission.  Kinski tries to convince him that there is trouble brewing,  to which Boone says…

This is where the issue ends.  I still like the big picture direction of the story, but there are some major problems with some of the smaller details.  First off, what was the deal with the Green Eggs last issue?  They were not even referenced this time.  I could understand this if it was a different writer this time, but Chichester wrote both issues, so I am confused by this.  He didn’t write the first four issues, in which Narcisse lost his head, but he was a Consulting Editor, so he was totally aware of this.  I understand that those first four issues were wrtitten before the Movie came out, in which Narcisse survived.  He is one of the more popular characters of the movie, so I understand the need to get him in the book, but they could have at least had an explanation, instead of him just showing up like he didn’t get decapitated. 

Sorry, I am nitpicking now.  This is the most critical I have been of a Barker Comic thus far, and besides the Narcisse thing, they are actually kind of minor details, because I still enjoyed the issue over all.  This just shows the quality that was being put into all the comic work that had Clive Barker’s name on the cover.  Join me next time as we get into Issue Seven!