Review: The House on 52 Carlton Street
How about a Lovecraftian horror one shot story of a lacking in faith exorcist and his latest mysterious summoning, in a greyscale Manga art style? Dare to enter The House On 52 Carlton Street from Zen K and Konguchi Comics.
Zen K is a Pakistani illustrator and comics artist based in the UK. To steal from her bio, her hobbies include video games, Manga and sampling coffee anywhere she can find it. Alongside her extensive illustrative work, Zen debuted the sci-fi comic Runaway Mayhem at Shortbox Comics Fair 2024. The House On 52 Carlton Street was interestingly created as a contextual thesis project and was her first full-length comic. Both books are published by the great folks at Koguchi Comics; they were also responsible for the recently reviewed, much enjoyed, almost-ended Kickstarter Sparrowsong.
Koguchi Press is a small-press comic publisher from the UK that works with artists from all over the world to make accurately self-described, kick-ass, Manga-inspired, sci-fi and fantasy comic books. They were founded by Bon Idle and have been busy bunnies making comics, zines, prints and merch since 2015 when they used to be called Black Mass. Formalities extinguished we'll have a review.
So, let's start with the art. Zen K has a cool, accomplished style presenting punctuating greyscale, screentone saturated Manga art. Zen's technical abilities shine in this dark, brooding with malice, comic. What stands out even more so is the powerfully pleasing panel presentation. There are some wonderfully dynamic choices being made that absolutely land and deliver on the impact of the story points they portray. The creepy undertow feeling on offer from these choices ignites with real skill, building to an excellent crescendo in the monster reveal. That's another highlight in itself, what a page. I do love a good monster design and this is a good one.
A final stand-out page is all about the eyeballs, and my, what a feast it provides to yours. Overall, the art on offer is impactful and full of technical design flair, with some excellent stand-out splash pages sure to delight all Manga fans.
Damned good art aside, let's have a look at the story. The House On 52 Carlton Street follows an Exorcist of little faith on recruitment by a mysterious letter. Cue foreboding, imposing, stately home and a not quite altogether inherited owner. The story does a great job filling the quota of horror tropes you'd hope for to build that creepy, unsettling vibe. The entertainment value comes in high with this one as the build to pay off ratio is billed dastardly well.
The story delivers on the promises of Lovecraftian horror in a straightforward slice of entertainment that shines through its brooding darkness with its application of design layout to emphasise its strongest moments. The devil is in the technical details with this one, and ultimately, it delivers as a great piece of distracting entertainment.
For fans of Manga, horror, exorcists, mysterious letters, imposing homes, slightly unhinged grieving clientele with a sinister family secret, music rooms, Lovecraftian menace, exorcisms and an engrossing, engaging, imaginative, intelligent panel layout in impressive grayscale, screen tones Manga art style, give The House On 52 Carlton Street a go.
To get your copy, you need the Koguchi Comics website: https://koguchipress.com/. For all things Zen K you can explore her website zenk.myportfolio.com where you'll also find all those socials to follow.
Review: 4/5
