Graphic Novel Review: HOTELL by John Lees & Dalibor Talajic

HOTELL by John Lees, writer; Dalibaor Taljic, artist; Lee Loughridge, colors; and Sal Cipriano, letters. Covers by Kaare Andrews (Issue #1) and Keron Grant. (AWA Studios, 2020) Paperback.  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . .

You won't find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and you're truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel. - where many check in but few check out.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

I read this in the monthly issues HOTELL #1-4 of 4 (AWA/Upshot, March-August 2020).  

John Lees is an inventive Scottish writer of horror comics who has a penchant for scripting tales that reveal the darker sides of human nature, the things that get under your skin and start to itch. I recommend this title to all fans of horror comics, especially if you haven’t read anything by Lees before. If you like HOTELL, seek out his SINK series (ComixTribe) and the more recent MOUNTAINHEAD (IDW). 

   The anthology format, short horror stories linked by a creepy host who introduces each tale, has been a staple of horror comics ever since the days of the ground-breaking TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1950’s EC Comics) and popularized even further by the black-and-white CREEPY and EERIE magazines (1960’s & 1970’s Warren Publications).  

Lees takes that format and puts his own spin on it. The linking device is not so much the host here, although there is one — helpful but dour motel clerk John Lynch. The connection is that all the stories take place in one setting, Pierrot Courts, the small four-room motel off Route 66 whose worn-out neon sign can only be seen by select drivers, like a foreshadowing beacon. It’s located at the end of a side road that “most travelers will never discover. Some things, not all eyes are meant to see.”  Instead of three or four short stories introduced by the host and broken up with dark comedic commentary, each issue is one longer story. There are no funny segues to break up the horror. Each story is a punch to the fright gut. All the stories are linked together, with each issue previewing a related scene from a former or future issue. What goes on in the rooms is what brings it all together.

I read a lot of horror and don’t get bothered easily. None of these stories disappointed me. The most disturbing tales reside within the pages of Issues #1 and #3. Expressive and often horrific art by Dalibor Talajic is equal to the task of illustrating these dark stories.

ISSUE #1: Alice, a pregnant woman, flees her abusive husband Ted and hides from his pursuit at Pierrot Courts. She experiences dreams in which her unborn son speaks to her and nurses at her breasts each night. However, is that really her son conversing with her? She awakes with bleeding nipples. Her angry husband arrives just in time to receive the news. Along with the dread there is a bit of satisfaction in the ending. This one gave me shivers. 

ISSUE #2: Bobby, an unhappy husband with murder on his mind believes the isolated Pierrot Courts and the surrounding woods to be the perfect place to dispatch of Muriel. A chance discovery of a mysterious pond complicates things repeatedly. 

ISSUE #3: A distressed Kristin investigates the last known whereabouts of her older sister Lisa, the roadside hotel where the also-missing serial killer Wilbur Finch kept her captive and allegedly tortured. Kristin’s discoveries are very unsettling. 

ISSUE #4: A depressed father who believes his young bipolar son has been possessed by the devil enlists the assistance of a disgraced Catholic priest. The site they choose for the exorcism rites is the Pierrot Courts. First mistake. All four issues tie in here as an eclipse occurs in a fiery climax. 

The final words of clerk John Lynch, as he poses near the disturbing painting of the Pierrot clown/mime put a neat bookend on the whole series, and hint at a possibility of more:

   

   “I think about them often. The ones who get to leave. . . . Do they leave with a deeper understanding about themselves? . . . Can that understanding come without comprehension of what exactly happened here? . . . I’ve been in Pierrot Courts longer than I can remember, and even I don’t understand it. . . . Some things are just unknowable. . . . I miss them, you know. So many people come and go, each with their own story, and I can’t help but get attached. . . . But the good thing is, it’s never too long before a new story begins.”