Advance Review: Hollywood Horror And Satanic Panic Bleed Through ‘Black Tape’ #1

For those about to rock, we salute you! And for those about to pick up Black Tape #1 we salute you too. Because, what you will get for your hard earned dollars is a beautifully provocative love letter to the hedonistic excesses of Heavy Metal and the swinging Seventies. And all set against a backdrop of the Hollywood hills, with a generous dollop of Satanism that pervades and creates a creeping feeling of unease as the debut issue unfolds. Satanic panic at its best!

Centred around the grieving and vulnerable widow of rock-god Jack King, its not too soon before Cindy is surrounding, seemingly innocuously, by a band of well-wishers with obviously nefarious intentions lying just beneath the surface. All portrayed in period-perfect detail by artist, Dalibor Talajić, working from a gloriously gothic-tinted script by Dan Panosian. A man who’s skills, as an artist, leans themselves to co-producing a comic book that looks so aesthetically in tune not only with the seventies vibe it succeeds in capturing, but also a comic book worth looking out for this week.

Bringing a Hollywood glow to the whole proceedings is colourist Ive Svorcina, who captures a certain lighting reminiscent of Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, and adding to the who sense of a very Americana infused horror comic; a comic book that’s both gothic and glamorous, with just the right amount of shadow encroaching each scene. And, as the day turns to night, this too is reflected in the more subdued, burnished colouring. 

It’s been a while since I think I’ve read a comic quite like Black Tape #1, a well-blended tale of Seventies excess, Satan worshipping Hollywood types and sensual, sensational art! And out Wednesday 1st February from AWA Upshot.