Jealousy, frustration, aggression, anger, and pure unbridled terror infest the pages of BULLETPROOF COFFIN: THE THOUSAND YARD STARE. A large part of the appeal of BULLETPROOF COFFIN is how quickly and efficiently Hine & Kane—the real ones—can make you feel creeped out or uneasy. Hine is ferociously talented and a pro at evoking a mood without overwriting. A caption hinting at something horrible here, a bit of dialogue suggesting something is not quite right there, and you fall into the four-color world on the page, unable to escape until you’re done with the book.
Kane’s art has a similar effect. Nobody can draw a creepy face like Shaky Kane, but even that’s underselling his skills. Kane excels at the absurd from every angle, whether he’s forcing you through a slow zoom into an increasingly exasperated comics creator’s eyeball or depicting a man in a mask making out with a bug-girl. The comic-within-a-comic of the BULLETPROOF COFFIN world feels unreal in all the right ways, a peek into a world where everything is just this side of “not right.”
If you’re looking for a comic to challenge you, one that’ll make you question reality even while you’re having a grand time enjoying unreality, BULLETPROOF COFFIN: THE THOUSAND YARD STARE is the one you’ve been waiting for.
BULLETPROOF COFFIN: THE 1000 YARD STARE is available now.
David Brothers was born in the South, became an adult in Oakland, and edits Image+ when he’s not sitting by the dock of the bay. IMAGE+ is an award-winning monthly comics magazine that's packed with interviews, essays, and features about all your favorite Image comics and your first look at upcoming releases.