Comic Book Review: Silent Hill – The Grinning Man

The Silent Hill comic books have been nothing short of quality throughout. From the inventive stories that never distance themselves too far from the source material to the nightmarish artwork that just jumps off the page. These comic books are for fans of the Silent Hill universe and they rarely disappoint. Unfortunately The Grinning Man is one that does.

It tells the story of State trooper, Robert Tower who is about to retire. He’s been patrolling Silent Hill looking for missing people for many a year now and has never seen a single monster. Tower has no reason to believe any of the rumours surrounding the town but his replacement does.

Mayberry, Tower’s replacement, is heavily into the lore of Silent Hill and is very excited to be able to experience the town for himself. Tower is less then pleased though so decides to take him there and play a prank on him.

Elsewhere though, the Grinning Man is also on his way to the town. A veritable psychopath who lives only for the hunt, he has heard about Silent Hill and wants to make it his new stomping ground.

Tower and the Grinning Man are on course to seriously butt heads & the truth about Silent Hill is going to be revealed to all involved.

Story-wise the Grinning Man just isn’t that exciting, it focuses less on the horrors of Silent Hill and more on the one-dimensional bad-guy whose motivations are sketchy at best. Sure, he’s a hunter but for a comic that focuses on him predominately there really should have been more detail.

Also the art style just doesn’t sing, it’s dark and very flat looking. Character faces look the same and there is a real lack of interesting monsters. It actually feels nothing like a Silent Hill comic adding little to the overall universe.

My expectations have been set so high with the Silent Hill comics that any misstep is glaringly obvious.