The second issue of Tom Waltz’s Silent Hill Downpour: Anne’s Story picks up right where the first issue left off: with Anne Cunningham pointing a gun at Murphy Pendleton’s back near the exit of the Devil’s Pit.

Comic vs. Game

Anne may still be reeling from her horrific train ride through the mines earlier but she won’t let that stop her from taking her revenge on the man who nearly beat her father to death now that he is within her sights once again…That is until she spots a familiar badge hidden within Murphy’s pocket and not only loses her will to pull the trigger but surprisingly also lets Murphy go.

This opening scene also plays out in the Silent Hill Downpour video game but this time we get a peek at what is going on through Anne’s troubled mind at the time.  Seeing another perspective on a scene like this makes me even sadder we never got to play the proposed Downpour DLC that would have showed Anne’s side of things all those years ago. Given what Waltz’s comic series has revealed thus far it’s a shame details on Anne’s rich and interesting back story are now being revealed more than 2 years after the game’s initial release.

In this issue of the story focus is primarily on Anne’s life shortly after her father’s near death in the Ryall State Prison showers. There is less rehash of scenes seen in game in favor of presenting Anne’s previously unknown back story that fleshes out her motivation for the relentless pursuit of Murphy through the streets of Silent Hill.  We learn how caring for her ill father put a strain on her marriage and most notably, the “sick things” –  only alluded to in conversation with Murphy within the game –  Anne had to do to get Murphy transferred to Wayside, in a mixture of both flashbacks and creepy Otherworld encounters.

I definitely enjoyed the pacing of the story in the issue more than I did in the first. Given that the focus was on Anne’s back story and less on her current predicament more time was spent within her head than rushing from point A to point B. As a result, Anne’s past had the page space dedicated to slowly unfold through flash backs and monster encounters without any need for any overwhelming info dumps.  In fact, now that I really think about it Anne really didn’t travel all that far from where she started from this entire issue. It wasn’t until the last pages does Anne even enter the Silent Hill town proper.

Hey she’s in town! What TBC? awww

Tristan “T-Rex” Jone’s  line work and paneling for this series continues to be stellar. I can’t say enough how much I love his gritty art style for this Silent Hill tale! The line work is bold, extremely detailed and character’s raw emotions are depicted so well.  Anne is so damn expressive it’s clear what she is feeling from one scene to another – whether it’s her barely contained rage when confronting Murphy or her intense fear and confusion during Otherworld encounters.  Anne is clearly scared, confused and losing her mind and it sure as hell isn’t pretty.  Even if you don’t necessarily agree with her past actions you can’t help but really feel empathy for her situation and motivations.

So expressive!

Jone’s even designed a brand new creature whose phallic design would fit right in with the Silent Hill 3‘s creature roster. The monster is revolting and yes, blatantly sexual, but given but given what it represents to Anne the bluntness of its design makes sense. It was cool to see a new non humanoid creature added to Downpour’s lineup… but it wasn’t the only monster we saw in the issue. A creature considered a Silent Hill staple, and originally missing in Downpour, makes a brief appearance as well.

Some may see this creature’s inclusion as fan pandering but I found I wasn’t too bothered by it given that it appeared alongside Anne’s father. Though I do have to admit, I was a tad disappointed that design seen in previous games was used instead of a new design for this series.

Even though there’s a lot of jumping between the past, the present, the fog world, and the Otherworld within this issue of Anne’s Story  Jone’s panel work and Mike Spicer’s colors made the numerous transitions both easy to recognize and follow.  Panel wise transitions like these were usually eased in by first showing a close up of Anne with a trailing thought, while the next frame had a nice large establishing shot of the new location and/or time finished the thought.

Line art and color palette changes

Additionally their were small changes to both the line work and color palettes to indicate just when and where Anne was in the story. When in the present (and within Silent Hill’s fog world) the comic stuck to a cool color palette consisting of blues, purples, and greens colors predominantly used in environments of the Downpour video game. When the heavy shadows on the line work disappeared and the colors became both lighter and less saturated (giving the artwork an overall hazy appearance) it was visual cue we were in a flashback.  Similar changes, though on the opposite side of the spectrum, was employed when Anne was within a Silent Hill Otherworld: the line work had bolder shadows and a warmer color palette using reds and yellow would dominated the backgrounds.

I’ve stated before that the art style of earlier Silent Hill comics left me confused on just where and when the characters were but given how detailed Jone’s background are and Spicer’s obvious color palette shift I had no trouble weaving between Anne’s past, present an Otherworldly nightmares.

Overall Anne’s Story is an excellent read so far. The artwork is top notch and as a fan of Silent Hill Downpour it is fascinating to finally learn more about Anne’s mysterious past. I highly recommend fellow fans to check this series out though warn you… given how the story is ramping up you might become as frustrated as I am at how “short” these two issues are! I can’t wait to see what Waltz, Jones and Spicer have in store in issue three!

Silent Hill Downpour: Anne’s Story #2 is on sale from your favorite comic retailer now!

Miss my review of Issue #1? You can read it here.

Need a second opinion? Be sure check my friends reviews!

CJ Melendez’s review over on Rely on Horror!

H.B. Duran’s video review for My Silent Hill

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Big thank you goes to Tom Waltz for sending me an advanced digital copy of Anne’s Story to review for the site.