Scout

by Matthew Erman and Lisa Sterle
collects Long Lost #7-12
book one | two – complete

Long Lost comes to an end in twelve short issues, but a complete, full story where every page counted. As much as I wanted more, we don’t need it. The second half of Piper and Frances’ return to Hazel Patch – and confronting their past and their mother – all came together to a satisfying and powerful conclusion, even with a lot of questions left unanswered.

In short, this book made me appreciate the horror genre for the first time ever. There was plenty of prickling tension, gore and horror thrills, but carrying it all was Piper and Frances, emerging through shared childhood trauma and how to navigate the world while relying on each other as their anchor in all the chaos. I’m sure these kinds of horror stories have existed before, but Piper and Frances hit a chord with me as believable sisters with shared baggage that they each processed individually and together. Erman identifies the core insecurities of both women and they separately tackle their darkest demons – literally and figuratively – in this volume, and it’s so powerful when they finally reunite. And then, Frances and Piper stop running and start facing the darkness together. The two don’t overshadow each other even though they each have moments to grow and develop. In twelve issues I felt far more connected to them than some characters I’ve been reading for years.

Even so, the story was still confusing particularly with more witchcraft and fantasy elements introduced in this volume. It feels like a natural progression as the stakes get higher and we see the real kind of danger Piper, Frances and the Hazel Patch residents are in, as well as some big reveals about what happened to Piper and Frances’ mother. But just as Frances and Piper stumble through it, I never fully grasped what was going on and how things progressed. Either I was missing a few connections because of the time between reading both volumes, or you aren’t supposed to understand everything.

Spoilers this paragraph. Piper and Frances are gone for three years (a time lapse that doesn’t seem necessary) but when they run into Pockets, he’s still a puppy? Was he in the other world or did Jody lie to Frances about the time lapse in the first place? At the end of the day, the dog is okay (which my comic shop friend reassured me before I even bought the book) and that’s all I really care about.

Long Lost also incorporates a strong commentary about mental illness and how it can affect one’s children. This was hinted at from the beginning, and the conclusion at times leaned into metaphor, while still being a literal horror story. The dialogue between Piper, Frances and their mother sometimes felt just a bit on the nose, but also necessary for Frances and Piper’s characters to come full circle – especially Piper.

Sterle’s art continues to be a highlight of the book for me, and in this volume we are treated to more otherworldly creatures and landscapes, still creepy as hell like Hazel Patch but on a completely different level. Her use of sepia tones and black and white do a beautiful job creating unsettling moods, and she excels in “double take” scenes, like dark shadows that, upon a second glance, are actually pools of blood. The more “anime” look to Piper, Frances and the other characters are still very believable while the monsters and altered humans are terrifying. There are a few interpersonal scenes that take a break from the horror and are really quite heartwarming, and Sterle’s expressions are spot on. At the beginning we are featured to a giant boar with tendrils coming out of it, almost certainly a nod to the same infested animal in Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (though the themes don’t seem to overlap at all).

This book deserves a tremendous amount of praise but I was shocked to add the book to Goodreads’ library. I hope it becomes a treasured favorite on many bookshelves (it’ll be a yearly read for me every fall), especially for readers like me who thought the horror genre had nothing to offer them. Looking forward to the next series by Sterle and Erman.

by Matthew Erman and Lisa Sterle
collects Long Lost #1-6
book one | two – complete

First of all, you need to know that I am a VERY HUGE WUSS when it comes to horror stuff. I’m going to go ahead and date myself: things that terrified me growing up included Are You Afraid of the Dark, Goosebumps and yes, even the Mummy movie with Brandon Frasier kept me up at night.

So when my local comic shop employee (after recommending a bunch of things I’ve already read and loved so I immediately trusted her) praised the crap out of this book, I flipped through the creepy, black and white pages and asked how scary it was. She said that it’s less horror and mostly creepy.

Well, this book was creepy as hell, and I loved every second of it.

Piper, the protagonist, is struggling to get through life and forget the demons in her past, adopting a puppy named Pockets and isolating herself from her family. But not only does her sister Frances return in her life, the two are visited by a mysterious being who kidnaps Pockets and bribes them to return to Hazel Patch, their rural hometown, and attend their mother’s birthday party. The two are forced to face their horrific and potentially traumatic memories, the surprising revelation that their mother is missing, and confront some very weird goings on in Hazel Patch.

Married team Matthew Erman and Lisa Sterle lay the groundwork for a gripping, tense, page turning story. The writing and art work together seamlessly which is a testament to this creative team – all the bigger of an accomplishment as spouses! The pacing is fantastic as the story slowly unfolds, including flashbacks to when Piper and Frances were children, flashes of traumatic memories, and thrilling horror scenes with slower, character building moments. There is plenty of mystery about the town, a cult with connections to Piper and Frances, and the volume’s ending cliffhanger promises a lot of big reveals to come.

Piper and Frances are fantastic characters who are clearly siblings but very different people who were shaped by their shared trauma – even though we don’t know yet exactly what they experienced at the hands of their parents. Even with the fantastical story they feel like very real characters which grounds the story and kept me invested the whole way through. I’ll be interested to see in the second (and final) volume how much of the story is a commentary on both sisterhood and overcoming childhood trauma.

Sterle’s artwork is just fantastic, especially since the style is not what you might expect in this genre. Piper, Frances and the other main characters have slightly anime and more expressive than what I usually see in horror comic (covers, I don’t actually read them are you kidding), but it really works for the story here. This contrasts with the gore elements as well as the monsters (and some of the Hazel Patch residents) who have less of a cartoony look, making them even more other worldly and terrifying. The colors are black and white gradients, which is very appropriate for horror and gives the book a strong atmosphere as well as a lot of opportunity to play with darkness, blood, and lots of creepy shit. This is probably my limit of creepy shit, but it was totally worth it.

I also have to say that I love a story with a predestined conclusion; no page is wasted and the book was clearly a labor of love by Erman and Sterle, who are masters at building tension and I was almost frantically turning the final pages with my heart racing.

Looking forward to profusely thanking my amazing LCS folks and picking up the second and final volume.