Gideon Falls #4 Review

Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Andrea Sorrentino / Image Comics Twin Shadows In many horror stories, there is a sequence where the protagonist still doubts that there is something supernatural occurring. Despite all the evidence pointing to the impossible there is a part of them desperately clinging on to the idea that everything is perfectly normal, and they are just having an off day. Gideon Falls #4 is that sequence. Father Wilfrid is resisting a growing pile of evidence that proves the existence of the Black Barn. Dr. Angie Xu still clings onto the idea of a shared delusion with Norton Sinclair. These moments of doubt and fear are utterly human. These are familiar reactions to people presented to extraordinary circumstances and Lemire captures the hesitation to commit to the preternatural. The believers trying to court non-believers to their cause. The shakiness of the slippery slope of “if this true, what else could be.” Dialog and plot continues the suspense, but it is Sorrentino’s visuals that absolutely steal the show this issue. The artwork has remained top-notch, but the paneling and borders are unsettling and unnerving. How we as readers are presented the pages capture the exact unevenness the characters are experiencing.

Gideon Falls is a story told in fragments. The two central narratives intertwine marvelously and the story has a strong internal pacing. Lemire and Sorrentino are essentially conducting two different symphonies; with a crisis of faith playing mix…