The Coffin Review

The Coffin

Oni Press
Softcover Trade Paperback
112 pages
$11.95 (2001)
152 pages
$21.99 (2010) Hardcover
ISBN 9781929998166

Contributors: Phil Hester, Mike Huddleston, and Gary Peterson

Reprints: The Coffin #1-4 (of 4)

Synopsis: Dr. Ashtar Ahmad is obsessed with his research - to find the key to eternal life by capturing the soul before it can depart completely from the body.  His work causes him to neglect the other important aspects of his life - his research assistant wife and young daughter. 

Funding is provided by an incredibly aged and maniacal corporate magnate with the same goal of securing eternal life by any means possible.  Sending agents to secure Ahmad's research the good doctor is mortally wounded and his only hope - a prototype of his soul-sealing creation.  Now the doctor will learn the hardest lesson of all when the tycoon kidnaps his daughter as ransom to recreate the secret to eternal life (or death)!  Mhwa-ha-ha!!! (couldn't resist)

Pros: Decent art by Huddleston, good writing by Hester, interesting concept

Cons: Black and white, only four issues

Mike Tells It Straight: This story borrows heavily from Swamp Thing with a researcher and his wife working in a secluded research facility, they're both killed in an attempt to steal his work, and he uses it to be reborn as a powerful creature exacting revenge on his corporate overlords.  This similarity is no surprise since Hester worked on Swamp Thing near the end of the second series.  The message of the book is to cherish life and those who love you before it is too late.  Overall a good sci-fi/horror story with decent art and a compelling concept. 

2010 saw an anniversary hardcover (released by IDW) with 40 pages of bonus materials including a foreword by Guillermo Del Toro, story from the Oni Press Color Special 2001, sketchbook, pinups, covers, and the original concept proposal entitled "The Corpse"




TO BUY and Recommendations: