The Deepest And Darkest Parts: A Walk Through Hell #8 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Carnahan reveals his life story to Shaw and McGregor. He starts with his childhood and his first murders; he believes something became a part of him at that time. He believes he has a higher purpose that necessitates him experiencing great suffering. He received it when he was sent to a juvenile detention facility. However, he made friends which were able to give him a clean slate, and that’s how he made it back to the outside world and, years later, into the path of Shaw, McGregor, and the FBI. We also learn more of the relationship between Shaw and Driscoll.
A Walk Through Hell #8 takes us into some of the deepest and darkest corners yet with the life story of Carnahan. He willingly and happily experienced some of the worst life has to offer any of us, and writer Garth Ennis and artist Goran Sudzuka take us through most of it while implying the rest.
We get to see the first time Carnahan killed anyone in a gory and shocking scene that is merely the opening salvo of this journey of human depravity and misery.
The juvenile detention segment of the comic shoulders much of the shocking moments, revealing how Carnahan (that’s not his real name, by the way) was used and abused by the other boys with whom he shared a cell.
It reaches his apex when we are shown one of Carnahan’s abductions, and its seemingly benign conversation only makes the horror of Carnahan’s actions all the more clear.
A Walk Through Hell is supposed to be just that; it’s a walk through both literal and figurative Hell. Whatever the warehouse is and wherever it’s taken Shaw and McGregor, the real horror is knowing, deep down in the darkest parts of your conscience, that people can, have, and will do things just as disgusting, horrific, and depraved as Carnahan.
The only comfort you are given is the reactions of McGregor and Carnahan’s lawyer reminding letting you know that, yes, Ennis and Sudzuka are aware that they are showing you the most acidic and vile pits of human capability.
Sudzuka and color artist Ive Svorcina give you another excellent art treatment that expertly obscures the more deleterious details of this whole affair. It’s a grim comic, and the art reflects that. It doesn’t, thankfully, make you watch the absolute worst moments.
A Walk Through Hell #8 is a shocking and brutal read, but it’s also an expert work of horror both internal and external. You almost can’t everything Carnahan has seen and done can be real, but you know, somewhere in the world, it is, has been, and will be. This just might be Ennis’ most nihilistic work yet (Fury MAX being one of the only rivals in this regard), and it’s disturbingly brilliant. In any case, this comic receives a recommendation if you can stomach it.
A Walk Through Hell #8 comes to us from writer Garth Ennis, artist Goran Sudzuka, color artist Ive Svorcina, letterer Rob Steen, and cover artist Sudzuka with Svorcina.
