Something Spooky: Forever Truly Is A Long Time In ‘Stillwater’

For many, the idea of eternal life seems like a gift, perhaps bestowed by some benevolent deity or higher power. Perhaps it’s boring or depressing at times, but surely full of extravagant visuals most often portrayed through vampire related media.

What if though, that long lasting life was a curse? This, among other things, is a chief question asked by the Image Comics horror-tinged series Stillwater.

Debuting in the already horrifying year of 2020, Stillwater is an 18-part series from Chip Zdarsky, Ramon K. Perez, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton. Conceived out of Zdarsky’s teenage obsession with Goth, mortality, and the works of Anne Rice, the series strips away any ideas of glamour from immortality. Instead, it asks the question, what if a small American town suddenly found itself in a position where no one dies and no one ages.

Instead of living in fine mansions and accumulating generations of wealth, these people find themselves quickly under growing authoritarian control as the secret of their immortality is hidden from the world. As it becomes harder and harder to do so in the age of satellites and cell phones, a unknowing former child of Stillwater finds himself pulled back and chaos follows.

I love the focus that this series dives into, as it heavily hinges upon humanity and what this curse would do to people over time. Never dying seems like something that would be novel or fun, but there are elements we never fully think about, beyond the aforementioned glamour filled vampire books.

What if you were a child when this happened and then had to spend decades in the body of a child while you continued to grow and age mentally and emotionally. Imagine being a thirty year old trapped in the body of a five year old. On the opposite side you could be a senior citizen with a frail body for decades more than you normally would.

Pretty damn terrifying either way.

Daniel West, formerly Tommy Quinn, offers the point of view into this world as it’s just a foreign to him as it is to us the reader. Zdarsky spoke in interviews ahead of the series release about how the series location was mirrored on the small town of Coldwater that his family moved to when he was a child. There they felt like and were treated like outsiders, dealing with an insular tiny town living atmosphere. In this vein, he gave Daniel that same role that he had as a child, being the outsider in a small town where they very much are treating you that way.

Every bit of this world feels tangible and fleshed out, Perez delivers such emotionally heavy and old-timey feeling kinetic art. He taps into that small-town mentality to really allow every panel and space to breathe. There is never a moment where this feels bigger than the space but also never feels small or flat on the page. Everything is dynamic and pops in a way that showcases the depth and detail that the artist lovingly renders. It’s boosted by the similar color palette that is in play, tapping into a space that is not too bright nor too dull, finding that Goldilocks medium.

Right away I gravitated to this series because horror that is more realistic and possible just scratches a particular itch.

Monsters and fantastical beings are great as well but they come with suspended belief to make them work. While immortality is a fantastical concept, the idea that something of that nature being bogarted and weaponized by bad actors is far too real. We’re living in a world where we witness those in power abuse control and resources, tightening a fist around the people’s neck, day in and day out.

Being isolated in a space where fascism is gripping tight was down right pale inducing during the dark days of COVID. It hasn’t lost a bit of that bite six years later, because things changed but overall didn’t get any less dark or horrifying.

The best horror stories are those which turn a mirror to society, and force us to witness our darkest sides. When all reflections are dark already, that mirror look becomes harder to gaze upon.

Stillwater offers the hope that through revolution and generational power, the light could come again. That’s a concept those in power definitely find quite spooky.