Pixu: The Mark of Evil

From the team that brought us the Eisner winning "5" (sans Rafael Grampá, whose Mesmo Delivery for Adhouse is an absolute must read) comes the captivating horror comic Pixu: The Mark of Evil. I fell in love with this book in its original two volume, self published format but I have to say the people at Dark Horse have done a wonderful job with the new hardcover collected edition. As an art object it is a thing to behold.

Pixu is set in an ageing apartment building that is infested/inhabited/possessed by a mysterious demonic force. Each of the four creators takes tells the tale of one set of tenants whose lives begin to weave together as the action progresses. As a work of horror Pixu is more in line with an atmospheric Asian horror film than a classic all American slasher. There are gore and guts here but they are abstracted and not the primary source of terror. Instead Pixu revels in the unseen. The "mark of evil" from the title is just that, a spreading amorphous void, an erasure, that creeps across walls and seeps through floors, an unintelligible abstraction that appears to both nurture and be nurtured by the dark secrets held by the buildings inhabitants.

The real strength here is a delightful lack of explanation. Pixu has no mad doctor to soliloquise about the specific details or archaic history of whatever demonic force is at large. There is no Rupert Giles, no recordings from Prof. Knowby. In the end it is only the confused and convincingly imperfect characters who drive the story. It is their downward spiral of frantic irrational behavior and horrific violent actions that gives the story its bite.

With all four creators primarily known as illustrators the visual storytelling on display is a cut above. Though each artist has their own distinctive style there is a very cohesive aesthetic sto the book as whole. A serious emphasis is placed on mystery and atmosphere in the the heavily shadowed and textured panels. This is heightened further by a very deliberate pacing that subtly builds suspense toward a nearly over the top climax. One of the best parts about Pixu is that though it is akin to some of the great Asian suspense and horror films one could not imagine it in any other form than comics. In that these young artists have done something a bit special in a time of comics for the sake of hollywood hysteria.