Title: InfidelAuthor: Aaron Campbell, Jeff Powell, José Villarrubia, Pornsak Pichetshote
First Published: September 26, 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Pages: 168
Genre: Horror
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Rating:
Synopsis:
A haunted house story for the 21st century, INFIDEL follows an American Muslim woman and her multi-racial neighbors who move into a building haunted by entities that feed off xenophobia.
Bestselling editor Pornsak Pichetshote (Swamp Thing, Daytripper, The Unwritten) makes his comics writing debut alongside artist extraordinaire Aaron Campbell (The Shadow, James Bond: Felix Leiter), award-winning colorist and editor José Villarubia (Batman: Year 100, Spider-Man: Reign), and letterer/designer Jeff Powell (Scales & Scoundrels).
Buy the Book: AmazonReview
There are times that I run into a piece of horror media that has so much potential, with so much to love about it, but then I don’t end up loving it, and I sorely wish that I did. Infidel is a graphic novel about the horrors of racism, and specifically, Islamophobia. Taking place in the United States after the 9/11 bombings, the story follows Aisha, a Muslim American woman coping with the evils of everyday racism in all of its many shapes and forms.
Aisha is a wonderful main character, she tries her best despite the casual racism she regularly encounters, from strangers, friends, family, even other minorities that regularly experience the same flavor of terrible racism. I could relate these scenes to my own experiences and it felt good to be seen and heard. The story initially was intriguing, but it starts veering wildly into left field and quickly becomes the weakest aspect of the graphic novel, despite the timely themes.
The art is disturbingly realistic, dark, and gritty. There are some truly outstanding panels, I fell in love with the stylish nightmare fuel art, it was easily one of the strongest parts of this graphic novel. I wanted so much to like this more than I did, I honestly truly wanted to love this, but Infidel fell flat. While there were some truly tense moments that kept me at the edge of my seat, the meandering plot made the entire thing feel incoherent.
Quote
“I mean, I didn’t realize he was Arab until he was in the news…”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Authors
About Aaron Campbell
Aaron Campbell has been working as a comics artist for a decade. In that time, he’s illustrated the adventures of some of the world’s most iconic characters, including The Shadow, Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Batman, and Harley Quinn, working with such revered writers as Garth Ennis, Matt Wagner, James Robinson, and Andy Diggle. Infidel marks his first creator-owned book.
About Jeff Powell
Jeff Powell is a designer and illustrator who traded a life in the Big Apple for one in the Big Easy. A veteran of the comic book industry, Jeff has been lettering and designing books for over twenty-five years. After two in-house roles at Marvel Comics, he currently oversees production for TKO Studios.
In addition to his time at Marvel, Jeff’s portfolio includes work from a variety of publishers including Archie, Image, Valiant, and more.
About José Villarrubia
José Antonio Villarrubia Jiménez-Momediano – known professionally as José Villarrubia – is a Spanish-American artist and art teacher who has done considerable work in the American comic book industry, particularly as a colorist.
About Pornsak Pichetshote
Pornsak Pichetshote was a Thai-American rising star editor at DC’s Vertigo imprint where he worked on such comics perennials as The Sandman and Swamp Thing. His books have been nominated for dozens of Eisner awards—be it the award-winning Daytripper, the New York Times bestseller The Unwritten, or critical darlings like Sweet Tooth and Unknown Soldier. He left Vertigo to become an executive in DC Entertainment’s media team, where he started and oversaw DC TV’s department. Infidel marks his first major comics work as a writer.
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