By d. emerson eddy — I don't remember.

I don't recall.

I got no memory of anything at all. Not my words, the words of one Peter Gabriel from the song “I Don't Remember”. Seems I still remember that one. I may have used that introduction before, I don't remember. Mnemovore, from Hans Rodinoff, Ray Fawkes, Mike Huddleston, Jeromy Cox, and Jared K. Fletcher, taps into the fear of losing your memories, of losing your identity, and gives us a nasty Lovecraftian monster for tangible frights.

The story centers around Kaley, an Olympic-hopeful snowboarder who just suffered a serious accident leading to potential brain damage and amnesia, as she confronts her new situation and the world that she forgot. To make matters worse, there's an otherworldly slithering eldritch abomination that's eating people's memories and Mike, a dejected ad executive, helping the monster feast on people.

Ostensibly, this is about Kaley and her trying to overcome the memory-eating monster in the title, but I think that the real horror that it taps into is that fear of losing yourself. Alzheimer's is a very real, debilitating disease that affects many of us. I'm genetically predisposed towards it and I've seen it up close through some of my family members, it's absolutely terrifying to see people lose their memories and with it, their sense of self, their very identities. It's shown in the story in a number of different ways, both in Kaley's inability to remember people, people gaslighting her with fake history, and in the horror of personally not being recognized by people that you love.

The art from Mike Huddleston is a treat. His early work here is vastly different from what you see currently with Decorum, utilizing an art style more reminiscent of Steve Rolston and Philip Bond. More angular characters that feel influenced by animation and people like Jhonen Vasquez, not quite as exaggerated as other early Oni Press artists like Chynna Clugston Flores and Jim Mahfood, but still in the same group. Like Huddleston's earlier work on The Coffin and the design for the titular character, you see some of the detail and weirdness of how his style would develop in the construction of the Lovecraftian monster, but mixed with a simple cartooning that helps make that strangeness feel even stranger. 

Jeromy Cox keeps the colors fairly dark, utilizing many darker hues of blue, green, grey, and black, to keep a creepy atmosphere through the story. Jared K. Fletcher also adds some interesting atmosphere to the story with his letters, dropping out some aspects of conversation to show the fractured nature of Kaley's memories.

Overall, Mnemovore by Rodinoff, Fawkes, Huddleston, Cox, and Fletcher is a very entertaining horror story of an amnesiac trying to overcome a memory-eating monster, elevated by the real world horror of losing your identity when you can't remember who you are or any of the people around you.

Mnemovore

Mnemovore
Writers: Hans Rodinoff & Ray Fawkes
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Publisher: IDW / Desperado
Screenwriter Hans Rodionoff (LOVECRAFT, Man-Thing) teams up with comics writer Ray Fawkes (Spookshow) to cowrite a 6-issue miniseries that acts as Invasion of the Body Snatchers for the ADD generation. Featuring provocative art by Mike Huddleston (Deep Sleeper, BATGIRL), Mnemovore is a paranoiac supernatural thriller about memories, monsters, and the real terror behind forgotten thoughts. Kaley Markowic is an Olympic hopeful whose career is brought to a crashing halt. Badly injured, Kaley can barely remember her boyfriend, her family — her entire life. Now, a horrifying creature appears on the scene, violating her loved ones and damaging their minds. Kaley is lost in a world where nothing has precedent and must fight to protect those who are closest to her…even if she can't recall them.
Release Date: September 21, 2011
Buy It Here: Mnemovore

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.