Another of this year’s Broken Frontier Six to Watch creators Zen K., aka Zenab Khan, has already featured on the site when our Lydia Turner reviewed the sci-fi one-shot Runaway Mayhem as part of her frankly epic coverage of 2024’s ShortBox Comics Fair. Both Runaway Mayhem and Zen K.’s horror one-shot The House on 52 Carlton Street were picked up by UK manga specialists Koguchi Press at the end of last year.
The House on 52 Carlton Street precedes Runaway Mayhem in creation order which frankly makes it an even more remarkable achievement. I have already spoken about Chris King, another of this year’s Six to Watch and how assured his first full comic Cold Chips was, and The House on 52 Carlton Street is similarly confident for early work. Its protagonist is William Bates, a young exorcist, who relieves superstitious homeowners of their cash by “ridding” their properties of supernatural presences he never believed in in the first place.
When Bates is summoned to 52 Carlton Street, however, his mindset may just be changed forever. His client is a young man named Robert Cuer who has recently inherited the house. While investigating the reported phenomena Bates will discover secrets and privilege, and malevolent forces very different to his normal working routines…
We have writing here that avoids all the usual traps that creepy fare like this could fall into. Dialogue and narration, for example, could so easily be clunky and cliched but it never is. The House on 52 Carlton Street veers into Lovecraftian horror visually but, as I said in our intro to this year’s Six to Watch, Zen K.’s understanding of how to manipulate the language of sequential art is so impressive throughout in creating an unnerving and disturbing atmosphere. Bates becoming small and helpless when running from the horrors within, for example (above), or a use of lettering that frequently projects the emotion or otherworldliness of what is going on. The crisp clarity of her linework also impresses.
With an incredibly neat twist on the whole exorcising a house idea The House on 52 Carlton Street also displays Zen K.’s ability to work across genres. And at a very accessible price of just £6.00 this one should fly off Koguchi’s online store shelves.
Zen K. • Koguchi Press, £6.00
Review by Andy Oliver
