Ripping The Veil Between Realms: Infidel #4

The death toll rises as the power of the mysterious creatures haunting Aisha’s home increases. As they test everyone close to her, setting friend against friend, one resident discovers the entities’ possible origin…and link to an ancient evil.

Aisha’s friends are finally starting to come around. Some of them, anyway. Leslie’s dead. Aisha and Kris remain unresponsive in the ICU. Tom’s a mess. Medina, Sendhil, and Ethan set out to identify and confront the dark forces pulling the strings. This isn’t going to end well for anyone.

Pornsak Pichetshote continues to push the envelope with his eerily topical script. There’s an inverse relationship in this modern parable between societal privilege and the ability to see and recognize the entity. This thing is a spiritual representation of some of the ugliest bits of human nature, feeding off hate and xenophobia. The perception of each interaction between the phantom and the physical world is also heavily affected by the observer’s level of privilege. This is probably the best metaphor I’ve seen for social awareness and sensitivity.

Aaron Campbell and Jose Villarubia nail this thing to the wall on art duties. The banality of everyday actions and scenes contrast heavily with the encroachment of supernatural horror elements. Villarubia’s desaturated palette works beautifully with Campbell’s nearly photo-real line work to crank up the tension.
On the surface, as a horror story, Infidel is creepy as hell. As an allegory for societal privilege, xenophobia, and awareness, it’s dead brilliant. It makes me uncomfortable on several levels, as I’m sure it was intended to.

Infidel #4, published by Image Comics, released on the 20th of June 2018. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote, art by Aaron Campbell, color by Jose Villarrubia, letters by Jeff Powell.