Review by Frank Plowright
Natalie Burns is hard. She has to be for her job tracking down and returning unwilling people, but that personality was forged during her youth, when she was one of several children involved in a Satanic abuse story later revealed as complete fabrication. Even in the pre-internet era the stigma remained, and while she’d prefer to forget the entire affair it has a habit of springing up again, in the present day when she’s contacted by an FBI agent.
Almost every review of a graphic novel by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips on this site, and indeed elsewhere, will talk about proven quality and meticulous combination of writing and art. It’s all true, and has been for years to the point where any new release is something to be anticipated, then savoured by fans a of a good crime story. Yet Brubaker especially likes to keep things fresh, and Houses of the Unholy is supplied by alternating chapters of past and present, although all maintaining Nat’s knowing narrative, a technique Brubaker’s long mastered.
Despite being rooted in the past, Brubaker ensures a 21st century story by involving the spread of information and misinformation online. This seems introduced to prompt a larger comment, but is ultimately another method of bolstering personalities. Natalie’s case fascinates people not born when it occurred, and how her family was affected ties into that. Her religious mother went to her grave believing the truth was being covered up, and her younger brother was sucked down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories via being an early adopter of online access.
Phillips delivers his usual tidy storytelling with great emphasis on people and use of light. The cast is distinctive and individual, not stock faces only distinguished via hair colour. Colour, though, is extremely well used, with Jacob Phillips dousing the chapters of Natalie’s childhood in shades of red reflecting the blood allegedly spilled.
Atmospheric and utterly absorbing, Houses of the Unholy works its way to an unpredictable ending rooted in reality rather than narrative convenience. As already noted, Brubaker and Phillips are a hallmark guarantee, and this won’t disappoint their regular fans.
