October Faction: Volume 2: By Steve Niles and Damien WormThe October Faction: Volume 2 by Steve Niles (writer) and Damien Worm (artist)

The October Faction volume two picks up right where volume one ended, and though there is a third volume in the initial run, there is good closure at the end of volume two compared to volume one, which left us wondering  what happened to Merl Cope, who was killed by Frederick Allan, was buried in their expansive back yard, and rose from the dead to join his sister and mother in their plotting against the Allan family.

The Allan family includes in addition to Frederick, the patriarch of the family: Dolores, the wife and mother; Geoff, the college aged son who is an expert at spells; and Vivian, the daughter who just graduated from high school. Vivian has the ability to see people’s futures, and she discovers a new ability at the end of volume two. Dante, who has a robot face, has recently been adopted into the family, and he assists Geoff and Vivian. Finally, Lucas is a werewolf and friend of the family.

Geoff and Vivian want to go into the monster-hunting  business, which their mother and father used to be engaged in with Lucas. The father, currently a professor, decides first to test his children before he will even consider their plans, but mostly he wants to scare them into picking some other line of work. The ensuing tests are horrifically fun to see.

But two other threats are in the works. First, it’s Halloween and, according to Frederick, the expected time for sneak attacks. So, first the family must survive Halloween. The second, and major threat, of the book is that posed by Merl Cope. When Merl tranquilizes Frederick and takes him back to Momma, the Allan family will have to come together to survive and save Frederick from his own troubles. We also find out the sheriff’s secret, and when we do, we are soon to realize that the whole town has been at the mercy of Merl Cope’s family.

The October Faction Volume 2 is another fun horror comic with great, creepy art from Damien Worm. Though the story could use some fleshing out (it reads really fast), it’s near-perfect at what it tries to accomplish, and even though we get some closure in volume 2 that we didn’t get in volume 1, you’ll still want to pick up volume 3 right away. In fact, these books read so fast, you can read all three volumes in one sitting.

Author

  • Brad Hawley

    BRAD HAWLEY, who's been with us since April 2012, earned his PhD in English from the University of Oregon with areas of specialty in the ethics of literature and rhetoric. Since 1993, he has taught courses on The Beat Generation, 20th-Century Poetry, 20th-Century British Novel, Introduction to Literature, Shakespeare, and Public Speaking, as well as various survey courses in British, American, and World Literature. He currently teaches Crime Fiction, Comics, and academic writing at Oxford College of Emory University where his wife, Dr. Adriane Ivey, also teaches English. They live with their two young children outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

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