The Abortion
by Jamie McMorrow and Garry McLaughlin
Self Published
I’m not the greatest fan of gore horror, not in comics, not in films, not anywhere. So I came to The Abortion expecting to dislike it. But, although it’s nasty and possibly in rather bad taste, I enjoyed it (if that’s the right word). It certainly made me uncomfortable and rather unnerved me enough to mean it worked as a nasty little horror tale. And if anyone remembers Steve Bissette’s long gone Taboo series, it’s just the sort of twisted little tale that would have fitted in there nicely.
The story is simple enough, all told in completely silent, wordless style; An aborted fetus crawls it’s way through the streets searching for it’s parents with murder in mind.
(Eerie, stylised art from McLaughlin with the sketchy, fractured “fetus eye view” panels particularly effective. From The Abortion by McMorrow and McLaughlin)
With any silent comic the artist really has to carry the story, and McLaughlin does a great job of detailing every little nasty touch he needs to. The first couple of pages are a little perplexing at first but the crucial part; the eerie creeping of the fetus through the streets searching for his parents is done particularly well, all creeping tension and contorted visuals from the fetus eye view that did the trick nicely.
Once it tracks it’s parents down, it’s on with it’s murderous spree, complete with some inventive ways to get it’s revenge. The Abortion is a strange little comic, that needs you to get into the spirit of the story to believe something this ridiculous and nasty could occur. But get into it, and it’s just the sort of uncomfortable, twisted thing that horror fans will get a buzz off.
The Abortion is available from the author’s Lulu site.
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I’m thinking anyone who enjoyed something like Eraserhead would get into the mood of this work