The Theater #5 Forget Me Not

Credits:
Written: Raven Gregory
Pencils: Novo Malgado
Colors: Michael Garcia
Letters: Crank!

We meet Eric Lundy on possibly the worst day of his life.  Mr. Lundy gets out of bed, get dressed and heads off to work like it’s any other normal day.  He’s got so much to get done at the office.  There’s just one problem…when he goes to the office NOBODY recognizes him.  They have no clue who he is or why he is there.  He maintains that he’s worked there for years, he knows everyone’s name and yet, they don’t know him.  He is subsequently escorted out by security.

Feeling upset and confused he decides to go to his mother’s house.  Unfortunately, she and his brother both don’t recognize him and he is chased out of the house by his armed sibling.

So, by he has realized that nobody knows who he is.  Not his friends, his family, people at work, the store, the bar, not even his landlord (this is a person he gives money to!!!).

While he’s sitting in some sort of café area, he sees a girl that he’s had a fling with in the past.  Her name is Jenny.  Jenny thinks Eric is a nutball at first until he shares a fact about her that he couldn’t possibly know unless they HAD indeed known each other. 

He convinces her to help him break into his apartment (to look for clues, answers, I don’t know).  While snooping through his own property, they find a burner phone (a disposable cell phone).  It has a voicemail on it.  It mentions a specific hotel for a meeting.  He also discovers evidence of him having a wife but, he can’t remember actually having been with this woman in a relationship of any kind.

He decides to go to the hotel referenced in the voicemail on the burner phone.  He has a vague familiar feeling as he stands outside the building.  As he and Jenny enter they walk up to the front desk and ask the clerk questions.  They get the key to the room referenced in the voicemail and search it.  They find nothing. 

Then, Jenny comes up with the idea that they should research the marriage license for his nuptials.  On the way to the county courthouse (or wherever) they pass a barn that catches Eric’s eye.  This is also familiar to him.  They decide to pull over and check it out.

Next to the barn they find a red car covered in a tarp.  Jenny also finds two dead bodies.

We then flashback to a year ago:

Eric discovers his wife’s affair.  He calls into work and tells them he won’t be in that day.  He follows his wife to a hotel where she meets her lover.  After the tryst he continues to follow her.  Once on the road alone together he gets her to pull over so he can talk to her.  He ends up killing her and her boyfriend.

Now, back to the barn:

Once Eric realizes what he did, where they are (the body dump site) and what they are looking at (the bodies decomposing), it occurs to him Jenny has seen too much and he decides to murder her, choking her to death.

Tormented and punished by his guilt, he tries to go to the police and confess to all his crimes…but, they don’t believe him.  They consider everything before them and decide that he is a nut who needs to be brushed off.  So, they do.  And he leaves the police station.

Five years later, lost in his world of madness, he is on the street, begging for change, nameless, faceless…nonexistent.

THE END

This issue had a definite Twilight Zone feel to it.  Practically everyone has wanted to disappear at one time or another.  I think this story might be a take on the downside of that self pitying wish.  While I feel like there are a few small holes to the story, or maybe I just missed something, I still thought it was a good read.

Truly, Raven Gregory rarely disappoints and when it does happen, it’s usually minor. 

The artwork in this issue isn’t bad.  I do like the cover art especially. 

I will say that I wish the story had been a little more developed.  When it got to the end it seemed a little thrown together.  I don’t know if this was intentional or not but, it did leave me wondering a few minor things.  I’ll let you all get this issue and decide for yourselves.

RATINGS
Overall 3.5/5
Story 3.5/5
Artwork 3.5/5