The Whole Strange Story — Reviewing ‘Dark Pyramid’ Collected Edition
by Anton Kromoff
Summary
Dark Pyramid is a brilliant mix of looming horror balanced with the very honest reflection of what social media does to the people who consume it. The story feels like it’s timely and honest, rather than using the day-to-day trappings of our modern life as tools to move the plot along. Where Dark Pyramid really shines is the grounding authenticity of human behavior. It’s captured so perfectly that it makes the whole story feel even more lived in and real. That, as far as storytelling goes, counts for a lot for me.
Overall
10/10Welcome to the table,
Mad Cave has made some really unique stories over the years. Dark Pyramid has been one of those twisted tales that kept you guessing from page turn to page turn. Things are so compellingly odd that it was hard to put it down or stop thinking about it at least a few times a day. Let’s get into it.
Dark Pyramid is written by Paul Tobin with art by PJ Holden, colors by Sara Colella, and letters by Taylor Esposito. The collected trade tells the story of Hooky Hidalgo, an only streamer and popular explorer who goes missing while climbing Mt. Denali in Alaska.
Holden’s girlfriend, Becca, heads to Alaska to find Holden. She discovers that a party of other online parasocial hangers-on and streamers have made their way to the base of Denali as well. This results in some kind of influencer-styled rager that turns bloody when a strange otherworldly entity wanders into the party and starts ripping the partygoers limb from limb.
What follows is a really impressive game of obfuscation. The story keeps just enough from you to keep you guessing while injecting new and strange additions to the story, ranging from hidden landscapes of brightly colored fungus to goats with human faces. When I tell you this book is weird, it’s weird, but as everyone here at Comicon knows, I’m the guy who delights in the odd stuff.
At its core, this feels like it’s setting up something so much bigger than what is contained in these first four issues. I’m totally fine with that kind of “tip of the iceberg” storytelling because it harkens to the work of H.P. Lovecraft without all the ugly racism and xenophobia that is inherent in the man’s work.
Dark Pyramid is full of weird horror elements, but maintains its very grounded storytelling by focusing on the characters as they navigate an impossible situation in ways that feel very authentic and lived in. It’s not a book with big monologues and heartfelt speeches. There are moments that emotionally resonate, and characters develop over the course of the work, but Dark Pyramid does not get lost in trying to be too many things at once, and that is where I think its real staying power comes into play.
The book is memorable. It stays in this weird lane it has created for itself and serves the story by sticking to its strange roots. The consistency of the weirdness and the ability of the creators to keep this whole thing on the oddball rails it has put itself on really make this a fun ride from beginning to end.
That is not to say I don’t want more stories in this world. I would sign up for spinoffs or follow-ups to this series the second they were offered, but if this ends up just being a five-issue series, then it’s still worth the price of admission.
Until next time, this is the kind of story we need more of. I love weird fiction and horror stories, and this fits firmly in both of those categories in a way we don’t get a ton of these days.
