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THE
HORROR OF COLLIER COUNTY
The suburbs are more terrifying than any place in the world.
 Writer
and Artist: Rich Tomasso
5 issue miniseries
Published by Dark Horse Comics 1999-2000
$2.95 each
Reviewed
by Paul Hanna
Your
typical small suburban community is practically inbred. Everyone
knows one another, and everyone has to know what the others are
doing. When someone new moves there, the "welcome wagon" treatment
is given; usually as an excuse to evaluate the person and talk
about what they did or didn't do behind their back. It's never
blatantly scary; the crimes are usually laughable.
It's
just a consistent, eerie feeling, like the poor girl in a slasher
movie who has to look in the closet. Only in suburbia, she never
opens the closet door. She just remains in a state of perpetual
tension. And that's what the suburbs are like, perpetual tension.
It drives you mad after a while.
| "The
illustrations are wonderfully rendered; Tomasso is a top notch
cartoonist, and a really good storyteller." |
Rich
Tomasso's THE HORROR OF COLLIER COUNTY captures that exact
feeling. Through the story's main character, Fran, Tomasso is
able to convey a sense of paranoia that comes with a visit to
the suburbs.
COLLIER
COUNTY is a black-and-white miniseries about a woman named
Fran, and her vacation with her daughter. A native New Yorker,
Fran has decided to spend her vacation at her mother's house in
Naples, Florida. The story opens with Fran and her daughter stuck
atop the roof of her Honda with a hungry alligator pacing the
ground below. They are saved by a golfer who passes by, then continue
to Mom's. Then the weirdness really starts.
Fran
is convinced people are watching and following her. While her
mother never believes her, the events build up more and more.
The climax was a little expected, however, and a little wanting.
Although the book is compelling in its sheer quirkiness, the plot
seems like something lifted from an old TWILIGHT ZONE episode
(which Tomasso pays homage to), complete with a quasi-shocker
of an ending.
The
illustrations are wonderfully rendered; Tomasso is a top notch
cartoonist, and a really good storyteller. His rendering of Fran
is, above all, a welcome addition to the small group of appropriately-drawn
female figures. In fact, what I found most attractive about COLLIER
in general was not what Tomasso did, but how he did it. And this
is most evident in the art, layout, and dialogue, which just about
make up for the plot.
 The
story is meant to be read as a whole. And when I say as a whole,
I mean it in the most extreme sense of the word. COLLIER COUNTY
, like Paul Pope's HEAVY LIQUID, is one of the few books
that uses the side-stapled pamphlet format to its fullest extent.
Not only are the pages full of story, but the front and back covers,
inside and outside, are parts of the story, too. So, the story
effectively starts on the cover of issue one, rather than the
first page. It ends on the back cover of issue five. And since
the front and back covers are in color, we get two color pages
of story with each issue. This is reason enough to get the series
now, rather than wait for a collection.
COLLIER
COUNTY isn't horrific as we might initially define the term:
murder, mayhem, and vampires. It's more offbeat, not to mention
downright bizarre. Most assuredly, it is unlike anything that's
out there right now. Consistently strange, it will make the slightest
chill run up your spine before considering a visit to suburbia.
Recommended
Paul
Hanna is a regular contributor to PopImage.
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