I Hate This Place #6

But Why Tho?

One of the most frequent lessons that the horror genre tries to impart to its audience is that the most terrifying monster is humanity. While good people like Gabby and Trudy are wonderful, the worst of us are more terrible than any monster. After all, monsters maim and kill on instinct. They are like animals but bigger and scarier. People, on the other hand, make a choice. They choose to abuse power, position, and trust in order to manipulate, control, and punish those around them into submission. I Hate This Place #6 delivers these points in all their terrifying glory as it welcomes Trudy’s dad into the story. (...) While the force of Joseph’s personality is crafted into his every word, it wouldn’t land with all the power it does without the fantastic art backing it up. Topilin captures every moment of Joseph’s emotional presentation with skill. From his dominating presence to outright rage, the man owns every panel he occupies. His confidence in his self-proclaimed “divine duties” is ever present in the man. Combined with Loughridge’s colors further augmenting every panel, the intensity of I Hate This Place #6‘s emotional levels can, at times, feel almost suffocating. (...) While I had high hopes for this issue, given how great the first arc was, I Hate This Place #6 exceeded my every expectation. It hits hard and often as it sets up the newest threat for Trudy and Gabby to overcome. How Joseph’s arrival will come to meld with the larger events around the farm is a question I can’t wait to see answered.

The Comicbook Dispatch

I Hate This Place #6 is a great opener to the second arc of Stark and Topilin’s story. Starks begins to pull back the current on some of the clues laid throughout the first arc while Topilin and Loughridge bring back the familiar artwork that sets the perfect tone for this story.

Lotusland Comics

Starks writes a horror story that's almost like a sleight of hand. At the beginning of the issue, we see these weird deadly creatures attack the characters and those are anxiety-inducing. Then we meet Trudy's father and the real terror begins. Stark uses different tools to deliver fear and dread to the reader just by enveloping his protagonists in extreme danger. You'll be in shock, aghast at what happens and you'll genuinely fear for Trudy and Gabby. The tyrannical abusive pastor father is unhappy about her life choices and so the hate becomes palpable in his actions putting the couple who's grown together and fought other evils is now faced with a different kind of evil. The traditional disapproving homophobic parent trope is sadly a real-life occurrence so it's depicted in fiction a lot but few are as terrifying as this. Artyom Topilin and Lee Loughridge continue to do incredible art. The opening sequence is bright and very cinematic, like old-school creature features where the angle of the shot, or panel in this case, is facing up to the panicked victims. But again, the true monster is Trudy's dad and Topilin makes sure he's portrayed larger than life, perhaps in the way she sees her father, a looming force of nature that she defies despite how menacing he is. 'I Hate This Place' is back with another great arc. Complicated, intense, infuriating, chilling, and downright blood-boiling, Starks and company have tapped into some all-too-real horrors.

The Super Powered Fancast

The Story: Starks crafts a dark, tension filled tale in this issue. The amount of rising tension on each page is fantastic and I love the stark twist in the story where it turns from the present to the recent past. The backstory is great and gives the reader a sense of who Trudy’s father really is and the darkness within him. How that darkness will fare against the darkness surrounding the house is exciting to speculate about. I cannot wait to see the next issue. The Art: Topilin delivers fantastic art that brilliantly matches the tension and terror of the story. There are some emotion inducing visuals throughout that I really enjoyed.

Sequential Planet

Like in the very first issue, I Hate This Place opens with some crime and some foreshadowing on this arc’s (Human) antagonists. Kyle Starks doesn’t even wait for two more pages to pass by before we are treated to our monster of the month. It doesn’t take long for readers to appreciate that this series is back. The constant danger mixed with the humorous and endearing characters will remind anyone why this series is special. (...) Artyom Topilin and Lee Loughride continue to treat readers with dynamic art full of bold lines and personality. The panel layouts of I Hate This Place might be simple, but they are easy to follow. The action flows naturally from panel to panel, making great use of the gutter space and leaving just enough movement to the reader’s imagination. The characters are wildly expressive, shining through this issue that is full of emotional trauma. Loughridge’s colors add an incredible amount of mood and tension to the panels. Eerie greens and yellows highlight the supernatural, while brash reds and oranges add danger to the human antagonists. There is much more to the colors than just adding depth to the art, and it makes I Hate This Place a delight to look at.

ComicBook.com

The return of I Hate This Place somehow summons monsters even more fearsome and revolting than the many creatures populating the series' first arc. (...) Kyle Starks examines violent religious fundamentalism with the new antagonists and distinguishes three distinctly threatening figures. Their ties to the protagonists and introduction at the start of the book ratchets up the tension and ensures every subsequent sequence possesses an electric feeling. Yet the most impressive sequences of the issue rely upon the more subtle effects crafted by artist Artyom Topilin who uses small, finely detailed panels to create both quickly paced action and rich transitions. The sense of place present throughout the issue provide abundant reminders to what a rewarding premise I Hate This Place contains and promises readers the second arc will be every bit as good as the first.

POP: Culture and Comics

Overall, it’s a great start to the second issue and I’m excited to see where this goes. My favourite character is still Trudy (I’m sure everyone feels that way) so I’m glad we are getting to see more of her backstory. This violent issue starts at 100 mph and doesn’t let up and I’m here for it. I give it 4 POPs out of 5 as I still can’t understand the proportion but a solid start to the second arc of this fun horror, action, adventure series.