TAPPING THE VEIN VOLUME 1 Retro Review

 The main focus of this post will be about the first comic adaptations of Clive’s work, Tapping the Vein. But before I get into my retro review, I need to discuss a new comic. The third issue of Clive Barker’s Next Testament came out this week. Since I am doing my Retro Reviews in order of publication, it will be awhile before I get to this series and do a full blown, in depth, spoilery review. So for now, let me just touch on a few non-spoilery things. [Click below for full review!]

First off this story is rare for comics in that it is one of the few times that it is a story Clive created for the medium of comics. Co-written by Mark Miller with art by Haeimi Jang, this story has been off to a great start. It falls under the realm of Biblical Horror. The basic premise is a simple one. What would happen if God came down to Earth in modern day? What would he think? What would he do? This third issue is full of blood and carnage on a Biblical scale. For those who doubt if Clive Barker is still capable of horror of this scope, this issue will put those doubts to rest. The first two issues should still be available at your Local Comic Shop. This is planned for a 12 issue run, so I am sure there will be a collected edition as well. But don’t wait for that. Get the individual issues. They are things of beauty. If these do well, there is a greater chance of more original stories in the future. That is a win for us all!

Now let’s jump into our Retro Issue of the week.

In 1989, Hellraiser wasn’t the only Barker property that got the comic book treatment. Eclipse started adapting short stories from The Books of Blood in a series titled Tapping the Vein. There were five volumes and each contained two stories. Like with Hellraiser, they sought some of the top writers and artists in the industry to bring these stories to life. The First Volume was released in September of 1989.

The first story in Volume One is “Human Remains.” This story first appeared in The Books of Blood Volume 3. P. Craig Russell had both writing and art duties on this story. Russell has worked on too many things to list here, but he has collaborated with Neil Gaiman on Sandman. He was also the first mainstream comic book creator to openly come out as gay.

I am not going to spend a lot of time recapping the story in these, because Ryan and Jose covered them all in the Books of Blood episodes of the podcast. Go take a listen to those if you haven’t already. This is the story about a Male Prostitute, Gavin, that encounters a statue that comes alive and commences a version of Identity Theft only Clive Barker could dream up. Russell provides a fairly straightforward adaptation. Most of the Narration is lifted directly from the original story.

As with most of these adaptation books, the art is what is most important. The story is already written, it just needs to be visualized. Again, Russell delivers. The highlights are how he slowly transforms the statue into Gavin throughout the story. Then at the end of the story the way the fake Gavin shows more emotion than the real one at his/their father’s grave. It leaves you wondering if the Statue did in fact take Gavin’s soul.

The Second Story is “Pig Blood Blues,” which originally appeared in Volume One of The Books of Blood. Chuck Wagner and Fred Burke adapted the story, while Scott Hampton provided the illustrations. Chuck Wagner has managed to stick with Horror, writing for comics such as Tales of Terror, The Twilight Zone, and Twisted Tales. Fred Burke also contributed to the Razorline and various other Barker adaptations. Scott Hampton has drawn such characters as Batman, Superman, Hellboy and others. He has also worked with other Barker Alum on Neil Gaiman’s The Books of Magic, which I briefly mentioned last week as well. He has also done work on Clive Barker’s Hellraiser.

This is one of the more depressing of Barker’s stories. It tells the tale of Tetherdowne, a “Remand Center for Adolescent Offenders.” It is also the story of a pig. Do you remember it now? Wagner and Burke also lift most of the narration and dialogue straight from the original story. Hampton does an amazing job of illustrating the reverence with which everybody treats the sow. The sow is quite majestic in fact. There was once talk of this story being adapted into a movie. If that is the case, then this adaptation could work great as story boards.

Both of these stories are.great in that they demonstrate one of the things I love about Barker. Aside from an astounding imagination, he also leaves you with a sense of mystery.  He doesn’t go out of his way, or waste time explaining how these things are happening, or exactly what these things are.  They just are, and we experience them along with the characters. We experience their terror right along with them.  That is as it should be!

Next week we cover Tapping the Vein Volume Two which contains two of my favorite Barker short stories!