With the aid of Photoshop, Miranda takes Coffin Hill’s art down worse than anything in the script could save. Of course, Kittredge doesn’t have a good script so there’s no hope anyway. The way Kittredge is developing the story–Eve versus a hidden witch, fighting for the attentions of the one good looking guy in town–there’s probably no hope for the series either.

The plotting is bad. The art’s occasionally terrible (Vertigo never would have put out a book with such weak art a few years ago), but it’s occasionally just plain mediocre too. Kittredge’s plotting is continuously bad this issue. The flashbacks are the worst. Kittredge uses them to avoid having to move forward with her actual story.

The ending, which is supposed to be a big detective scene, is the worst. Kittredge can’t write it, Miranda can’t draw it.

It’s unbelievable this book started out strong.

D 

CREDITS

Newness of the Night; writer, Caitlin Kittredge; artist, Inaki Miranda; colorist, Eva De La Cruz; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Sara Miller and Shelly Bond; publisher, Vertigo.

Somehow it manages to slide further downhill and redeem itself simultaneously. Kittredge has a cool cliffhanger. As much as the issue flops–Eve’s now a completely lame protagonist–the cliffhanger makes decent promises. So instead of giving up on Coffin Hill, I’m back for another.

Kittredge has a lot of problems with Eve. She can’t write her in flashbacks anymore, because she’s shown all her cards regarding the character and her limits. She can’t write her in the present because her supporting cast is terrible; the scene with the mother, right before the cliffhanger, is astoundingly bad.

But Kittredge can introduce new characters and they can be compelling. For half an issue anyway.

As for Miranda, the art is definitely continuing its slide as well… but without any to save it. There’s lots of weak composition, there’s almost no detail to characters; this comic is not nice looking at all.

B- 

CREDITS

Death upon Her Eyes; writer, Caitlin Kittredge; artist, Inaki Miranda; colorist, Eva De La Cruz; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Sara Miller and Shelly Bond; publisher, Vertigo.

It’s getting bad how often the art is falling off after the first issue or two in Vertigo series now. Coffin Hill falls victim to the same thing. Miranda is letting the colorist do way too much shading on the faces and also getting way too loose on the lines. It’s occasionally an ugly comic to read. It should be unpleasant, it’s a horror book, but it should never be ugly.

As for the story, Kittredge does okay, not great. There’s a lot of new characters and a lot more setup of the plot. It feels jumbled and hurried, especially how Eve does the investigating. Kittredge wastes pages too, with romance and family stuff. She goes for big events to make people memorable as opposed to gradually introducing things for later on.

If the art gets any worse, Kittredge might not be able to save the series. It’s too bad.

C 

CREDITS

A Fitting Grave; writer, Caitlin Kittredge; artist, Inaki Miranda; colorist, Eva De La Cruz; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Sara Miller and Shelly Bond; publisher, Vertigo.

I love the way Kittredge uses the narration this issue. The lead girl–Eve (I actually remember her name, not bad)–she goes home to her family’s manor. There’s a lot of good first person narration about her history with her family and so on. Then the narration cuts–as the character thinks of different events–to something relevant for the present action of the issue.

That move is probably more impressive than the rest of the issue, just because it’s sort of standard. Eve meets a guy she used to know who has become the town police chief. She’s a former cop, she starts investigating with him. Actually–while I don’t expected it and I hope not, all of a sudden Coffin Hill seems like a police procedural.

Anyway, its nice art again from Miranda; it’s genuinely creepy when it needs to be.

It isn’t great, but it’s solid.

CREDITS

The Waters and the Wild; writer, Caitlin Kittredge; artist, Inaki Miranda; colorist, Eva De La Cruz; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Gregory Lockard and Shelly Bond; publisher, Vertigo.

Coffin Hill is–while definitely reminiscent of some other comics, book series and movies–its own thing.

Writer Caitlin Kittredge marries some familiar concepts–rookie cop versus serial killer, teenage witches, haunted family–into something relatively fresh. The protagonist, Eve Coffin, is immediately memorable. Her supporting cast is strong. The cast fluctuates as the issue moves from the present back thirteen years. Kittredge’s greatest strength is a little one. She never loses track of Coffin’s partner, who is always in a scene as support and always perfectly so.

Inaki Miranda’s art is fine, but somewhat indistinct. There are emo teenagers, there are regular cops, there’s some blood, there’s some imagery out of Poe. Miranda never does anything new with these elements, but is always strong with them.

Hill ends on a standard haunted house note, but Kittredge earns a lot of goodwill with this first issue. A lot of goodwill.

CREDITS

Forest of the Night; writer, Caitlin Kittredge; artist, Inaki Miranda; colorist, Eva De La Cruz; letterer, Travis Lanham; editors, Gregory Lockard and Shelly Bond; publisher, Vertigo.