Comic Book Review: Silent Hill – Dead/Alive

Dead/Alive instantly had my attention by linking itself to other comics in the series namely Dying Inside & Paint it Black. In fact the former serves as the prequel to this one & focuses on Christabella, the one time ruler of Silent Hill. After being usurped by her older sister, Lauryn she now spends her time living within her own personal hell. For someone like Christabella hell is just having the semblance of a normal life such as having to go to school!

After a brush with the monsters of Silent Hill (they no longer obey her) she becomes determined to take back charge of the town. She ends up making a deal with a witch known as Lenora who wants to bring Hell to Earth (Doom style).

Along the way a number of returning characters also show up, characters like Dr. Abernathy who is out for Christabella’s blood since she killed him and Ike, who is now dating Lauryn!

It’s a great story, well-written with plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. Not one I would suggest reading if you’ve not read Dying Inside though (Paint it Black, not so much but you should read that one because it’s amazing).

The moments involving the good doctor were very exciting and his look just leapt off the page. Often in these stories, the monsters don’t really exude a lot of threat but here (and the doctor in particular) it really has impact.

The art style is great, cartoon like but with lovely detail and plenty of that Silent Hill horror that fans have come to expect. It’s one the strongest stories to date and has a really satisfying end that feels way more complete than any other story before!