Release #1 - Hedrek: Night Of The Mummers #1
40 pages
(FREE)
1: Hedrek: Night Of The Mummers #1
NSFW
1.9K views • Aug 07, 2023
“Night of The Mummers” is the first book in a series of high quality comics that give us a view into the folk horror world of DCI Hedrek Stern as he tackles a startling string of murders that may or may not be supernatural in nature.
The reader is drawn into a macabre story beautifully illustrated by the incredibly talented David Hitchcock, who has previously worked for 2000ad, Heavy Metal Magazine and his own acclaimed titles Spring Heeled Jack and Spirit of The Highway Man.
RapidFireReviews 8 months ago
Hedrek #1
Scratch Comic
Operation Mummer is an ongoing police investigation led by DS Hedrek Stern, for 18 months he has been following up on what at first seemed to be random pranks orchestrated by masked individuals up and down the length of the UK, the one thing that links them all in the calling card depicting the Greek God of satire and mockery, Momus. Things have escalated though and now turning more serious and violent,with blackmail, assaults and the murder of a prominent local councilor how had been threatened due to his link to deforestation of a town woods due to roadworks in the area. As the mystery deepens Hedrek gets pulled further and further in and becomes a target for the Mummer, what do they have in store for him, what secrets will be revealed and will Hedrek survive the Night of the Mummers….
_____Thoughts_____
This comic was a great read, so detailed and in depth. We get a great deal of information about the backstory and the characters involved. A lot of work has gone into crafting the Mummers in particular, both in their personas and their individual style. We don't get as much backstory of our main character but he is an easily likeable character to follow the story through as his dedication, almost obsession, with the case allows for a deep dive into all that is happening in the story, it would be very easy to overlook him given that flamboyants of the Mummers but he still stands out in all the crazy. There is a feel of procedural storytelling here where we get clue after clue given to the detective and he pieces it all together but we are shown the bigger picture as he has to wrestle with what he has in front of him with that last little piece of the puzzle missing. When he gets to see how it all threads together and what is really going on that is when it all kicks off, though that in itself leads to a bigger over arching mystery to the whole thing which will push the story on further as the issues continue. The storytelling is complex and well formed but offered up in such a way that the flow of it is easy to follow throughout, you will get caught up in the mystery rather than be overwhelmed by all the moving pieces. The artwork for the issue is as complex as the story, we go from the mundane of an interrogation room walls to monstrous body horror metamorphosis within a few panels. There are moments of psychedelic craziness that you could think might just come off the page and get you. The visuals for the Mummers are also great, from the Punch and Judy to a more traditional depiction of Father Christmas, though my personal favourite so far has to be little Johnny Jack, whose costume is covered in little sad-faced dolls that represent children that his character is trying to save.
I can't say much more about the story without giving too much away but will say that the main antagonists have an agenda that most people could get behind but maybe not to this degree. The last scenes do leave us with a few questions as to what is still really going on and I can't wait to see what comes next for Hedrek as there is definitely something much bigger going on behind the scenes here and this is just the tip of a very trippy iceberg. I would give this 9 out of 10 for both story and visuals, the concept has me hooked and I want to know more.
ScratchComics 8 months ago
Wow.. 9/10. We are honoured by your kind review. I hope you enjoy reading as the mystery unravels across the series to it's action packed conclusion.