Silent Hill (comics)

Silent Hill
Silent Hill: Dying Inside cover
Publication information
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Title(s) Dying Inside Among the Damned Paint it Black The Grinning Man Dead/Alive Sinner's Reward
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a set of limited series, graphic novels, and one-shot comics.
Genre	Horror Based on the video game Silent Hill.
Publication date	Dying Inside February 2004 - June 2004 Among the Damned November 2004 Paint it Black February 2005 The Grinning Man May 2005 Dead/Alive December 2005 - April 2006 Sinner's Reward February 2008 - May 2008
Number of issues	Dying Inside 5 Among the Damned 1 Paint it Black 1 The Grinning Man 1 Dead/Alive 5 Sinner's Reward 4 Past Life 4
Creative team
Writer(s)	Scott Ciencin Sinner's Reward Tom Waltz
Artist(s)	Dying Inside Ben Templesmith Aadi Salman Among the Damned/Paint it Black Shaun Thomas The Grinning Man/Dead/Alive Nick Stakal Sinner's Reward Steph Stamb
Reprints
Collected editions
Dying Inside	ISBN 1-932382-24-0
Three Bloody Tales	ISBN 1933239166
Dead/Alive	ISBN 1933239948
Sinner's Reward	ISBN 1600102387
Omnibus	ISBN 1600102394

Silent Hill comics are a series of comic books additions to the Silent Hill franchise.

Apart from an unreleased graphic novel and Sinner's Reward, they have all been written by Scott Ciencin, with various artists, and published by IDW Publishing.

Stories

Silent Hill

An original unreleased Silent Hill graphic novel was completed in 2000 by comics publisher Com.X,^[1] but for an undisclosed reason the book was never published. Com.X and Konami have repeatedly officially stated that they still intend to publish the book,^{[citation needed]} but no confirmed date has been set. Interestingly, IDW Publishing was unaware that this project existed when they pursued the license.^{[citation needed]}

Silent Hill: Dying Inside

Dying Inside was the first series published by IDW Publishing, with art by Ben Templesmith (#1 and 2) and Aadi Salman (#3 to 5).

This story was originally released as a five-issue limited series and later collected and released in a single volume trade paperback. The first two dealt with a doctor and patient, while the remaining three issues covered a group of goth kids. The first two issues rapidly sold out and required a second printing, in fact "Silent Hill #2 sold out, including IDW’s overprinting, before it even shipped to stores." ^[2]

In the first two chapters, Dr. Troy Abernathy wants to cure Lynn DeAngelis from her delusions, which began after she went to do a movie in the town of Silent Hill. Abernathy takes her back to the town... only to discover a world built from his inner fears, and ruled by a demonic little girl—Christabella—who seeks guilty souls. From Chapter 3 until the conclusion, a goth girl named Lauryn finds Lynn's movie and plans to go to Silent Hill supposedly to do the same stunt so her group can earn some cash. However, she actually wants to subdue Christabella, who is her sister who was killed due to her negligence. Interestingly, the Silent Hill movie by Christophe Gans introduces a villain character by the name of Christabella.

Silent Hill: Among the Damned

"Among the Damned" was a stand-alone one-shot story published in 2004 with art by Shaun Thomas. It is collected in the Silent Hill: Three Bloody Tales trade paperback.

Silent Hill: Paint It Black

"Paint It Black" was another one-shot with art by Shaun Thomas from 2005, also collected in Three Bloody Tales.

It follows the story of Ike, an artist who finds himself homeless after being kicked out of a friend's apartment. Ike remains under the influence of Artist's Block until he meets a stranger who claims to have visited the ghost town of Silent Hill. The stranger informs Ike that he was able to leave the town because his own friend sacrificed himself, this story inspires Ike to travel to the town to seek out the truth behind it.

Inspired, Ike is able to paint again; however his portraits now feature the creatures that live in the town, and he has found that he is unable to leave. The story then takes an unusual turn as a team of cheerleaders arrive in Silent Hill after their bus breaks down outside of the town.

As the plot continues to follow a strange set of developments, Ike discovers that he can actually travel through his paintings and he attempts to use them to escape.

His escape attempt fails and he finds that the cheerleaders have turned on him, sacrificing him so they can leave town.

Silent Hill: The Grinning Man

"The Grinning Man" (2005) is the third one-shot collected in Three Bloody Tales with art by Nick Stakal.

State Trooper Robert Tower is on his last day of work before retirement when his new replacement, Mayberry, arrives. Despite the fact that Tower enters Silent Hill on a regular basis to look for missing people, he's never been exposed to the horrifying creatures that roam its streets. However, to play a prank on Mayberry (a firm believer in not only the lore of Silent Hill, but also several other conspiracy theories and supernatural concepts), he stages a "Monster" attack with two other officers. However, there is a new force in the town of Silent Hill—a smiling madman with a mastery of both magical spells and firearms who considers the city his own personal hunting ground. The truth about the city is exposed to Tower and the showdown between him and the mysterious Grinning Man ensues. This story is collected in the Silent Hill: Three Bloody Tales trade paperback.

Silent Hill: Dead/Alive

Dead/Alive (2006) consists of five issues drawn by Nick Stakal.

Dead/Alive links to the Dying Inside series by returning to Dr. Abernathy, Lauryn and her sister Christabella. Lauryn has a new boyfriend which appears to be Ike, the protagonist of Paint It Black. Somehow, Christabella manages to escape Lauryn's powers, but returns as a normal little girl with little power. Then, she meets with a witch called Lenora who makes a deal with her. Lenora wants to bring Hell on earth through the characters of Connie and her ex-boyfriend actor Kenneth Carter.

Silent Hill: Hunger

"Hunger" (2006) appears exclusively on UMD disc 'Silent Hill Experience'. Hunger concerns itself with Douglass Payne and his fiancé Rosy, recently transported to the idyllic, serene Silent Hill. Doug’s hit on hard times, ousted from a prominent editorial position at a big newspaper where he was on track to deliver some huge stories before his ego got in the way and he was kicked to the curb. Now, settling down in Silent Hill, as his bride-to-be falls in love with the place, Doug is consumed with finding the next big story to get him back on top. When a 911 call is made to an abandoned house and the responding officer is murdered, reporter Douglas must find the answers to the mystery, all the while trying to find his love Rosy and figuring out the secrets that lie within a new stranger in town.

Silent Hill: Sinner's Reward

Published by IDW Publishing in 2008. Written by Tom Waltz with art by Steph Stamb. When hitman Jack “The Pup” Stanton runs away with his mob boss’s wife, he thinks he’s finally put his murderous past behind him. Instead, Jack and his lover take a wrong turn into Silent Hill and quickly learn that some sins are impossible to escape.

Silent Hill: Past Life

Written by Tom Waltz, Past life is a four issue Silent Hill comic published by IDW . The story chronicles events going back to 1867 and features a criminal gunslinger called Jebediah “Hellrider” Foster and a woman called Esther Monroe. ^[3]

Reception

The original Scott Cieincin stories have been widely panned, due to the plot holes, lazy artwork, lack of connection to the games and one-dimensional nature of Christabella. ^[4][5] However, the Tom Waltz story, particularly "Past Life", have been acclaimed. ^[6]

Collected editions

A number of the stories have been collected into trade paperbacks:

• Silent Hill:
  • Volume 1: Dying Inside (collects the limited series, 128 pages, IDW publishing, September 2004, ISBN 1-932382-24-0)
  • Volume 2: Three Bloody Tales (collects Among the Damned, Paint it Black and The Grinning Man, 152 pages, IDW Publishing, October 2005, ISBN 1-933239-16-6)
  • Volume 3: Dead/Alive (144 pages, IDW Publishing, August 2, 2006, ISBN 1-933239-94-8)
  • Volume 4: Sinner's Reward (104 pages, IDW Publishing, September 2008, ISBN 1-60010-238-7)

The Silent Hill Omnibus was published by IDW in September 2008 and collected together the contents of the first three trades into a single, 432 page volume (ISBN 1600102395).

Notes

References

External links

• Comics section of Ugo.com's Silent Hill Hub