Advance Review — It’s Nightmare After Nightmare In ‘Bone Orchard: Tenement’ #6
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
The nightmares depicted in this issue are enough to get readers pounding energy drinks for days to stop themselves from sleeping. They are intense and they keep on coming at a hectic pace. It’s another great read from this gifted creative team.
Overall
9.5/10Have you ever had a nightmare so frightening and so vivid you have trouble understanding where the dream stopped and reality began? Now image several of those layered on top of each other and delivered at a breakneck pace. That’s Bone Orchard: Tenement #6.
This latest chapter of the story takes a left turn as nearly every character experiences a horrific dream. A child dies in front of his mother. A man is trapped by himself for years. A woman sends cancer into remission then leaves the husband who has stayed by her side. Any one taken by itself is more than enough to handle. But all of them coming at the reader, one after the other, is…a lot. It’s also a great read.
Readers though expect nothing less from writer Jeff Lemire. He’s been excellent in this limited series, the latest entry into the Bone Orchard Mythos that he created along with artist Andrea Sorrentino. While the story has been disorientating for readers, that is clearly the creative team’s intention. The answers – some of them anyway – will come if you are patient enough. For now, enjoy the journey.
With Sorrentino providing the art, that journey is an awesome one. Never one to be constrained by a typical grid on a page, Sorrentino plays with the panels. They may bleed into one another or take on different shapes. Sometimes characters will exist outside of them, as if they are detached from reality. And adding to the spookiness factor are the flies. The winged insects appear on several pages throughout the book, sometimes in the margins and even on fully rendered panels. It’s a chilling recurring motif throughout the series. Does it mean the tenement inhabitants are dead or are they just decaying?
Colorist Dave Stewart continues to complement the illustrations with muted tones – except for the blood reds. His colors tend to flatten out the images, but instead of taking away from them, it actually adds to their character.
The creators have promised that much – though likely not all – will be revealed in the next issue. Based on the success of this issue, fans should be lined up for the next installment.
Bone Orchard: Tenement #6 will be available for purchase on November 22, 2023.
