Thin #2

Thin #2 by Jon Clark See Below for Preview Page

Oh Doris.  Dear, sweet, desperate Doris.  Desperation often leads to far worse situations than where a person began initially…don’t you think?

We rejoin our sad, married, overweight friend in the midst of an emergency…a tragedy…possibly the worst day of her life…and perhaps the last.

Now, remember where we left off at the end of issue #1?  Doris was strapped down to a makeshift operating table for a “back alley” type operation to lose weight given to her by a home dog breeder that moonlights as a weight loss physician, who has subsequently been killed during the beginning of the operation by little worm like creatures that resemble the monsters from Tremors on a miniature scale.  The implication is that these worm things will enter Doris’ body through a cut in her belly and eat away the fat.  These worms are mostly in a jar and supposed to access this cut in her body through a tube aimed at the open wound.  But, something has gone horribly wrong.

We’ll pick up from there…

OUR STORY

It’s obvious by now that there are at least SOME of these man-eating worms on the loose.  Doris is almost completely immobile except for the very limited use of her right hand.  It has a very small range of motion as it is strapped down at the wrist.

There is a worm monster that is heading to the tube and one at the foot of the bed inching its way near her right foot.

Doris is getting very scared and nervously begins to laugh for no reason, like a defense mechanism.  She starts trying to talk herself down and then she actually SEES the worm coming towards her foot.  This REALLY freaks her out.

She starts yelling at Dr. Romero, who can’t hear her (or answer her) because he’s dead, wanting to know what the hell this thing is and if THIS is his big miracle cure idea.

She decides to distract the creature from her foot by shaking her hand on the bed and getting it to move upwards towards the cut in her belly.  As it slithers that direction and gets within her reach, she grabs ahold of it and squishes it to death, suffering a bite or two on the hand in the process.

Now, the one in the tube is making its way closer to her.

Just then, she hears a voice holler, asking if anyone is home.  Doris frantically responds, begging for help, yelling out her position in the basement.

A hefty blonde woman shows herself in the door and is immediately horrified by what she sees; Doris lying there, the blood, the dead doctor.

Doris begs the woman to help her but, she is terrified and turns to leave.  Crying out, Doris pleads for the woman to reveal her name and she does; Martha.

Now, Doris begins to try to create a bond with Martha.  Realizing that Martha is there for the same operation, she explains to her what has been going on and that she needs Martha to untie her.  She even appeals to Martha’s greed and emotional void by bribing her with an “all you can eat” ice cream trip if she frees her.  This is just the ticket and Martha begins to work on the straps holding Doris down.

But, the help doesn’t last long.  One of the worms bites Martha’s foot while she is standing next to the bed and swiftly an attack to her body begins.  The worms bite her foot, her hand and then her neck, ultimately killing Martha.

Now, there are two dead bodies on the floor in the room with Doris and she is STILL trapped tied down on this damn table, bleeding and hungry killer worms at the ready to devour her fat cells and thensome.

However, she notices a possible saving grace.  One of the straps…Martha got it loose!!!  Yes!!!  Maybe there’s a chance at true freedom.

Then she looks over at the ominous tube…the worm is almost at the end now, its razor-sharp teeth moving ever closer to the slice in her gut.

She’s violently racing to break free now.  She gets one of the straps undone, gets her arms free just in time and WHACK!, she slams her hand into the tube and chucks it out of the way just as the creature exits the end of it.

At his point, she’s wrestling with the other straps and fighting with a worm that is trying to bite her foot so, her right leg is flailing about while she is writhing around on the bed.  But, the worm is successful and sinks its teeth into a toe of her plump right foot.  As she tries to shake it to release it’s grip she starts to slide off the bed and she begins to fall to the floor.  Her foot, bitten and bloody, gets tangled in the straps and she hears (and feels) the horrifying crack of the bones in her foot breaking.

Another chomp into the side of the same foot.

Now, she’s upside down, calves to feet on the bed, the rest of her on the floor, no way to get up (completely top heavy and unbalanced, no core muscles), broken foot tangled in bed straps, in massive pain all over, bleeding from multiple wounds and monster worms trying to eat her.

THE END

OPINION DOMINION

This issue was awesome.  I still don’t care, in fact I like, that it is in black and white except for the blood and the worms.  The story moved so well in this issue.  So much happened and even though I give so much detail in my review the artwork really makes the story have a life.  I can’t possibly get across to you, the reader, in just words, what Jon Clark does so uniquely with his combination of slightly geometric and black and white art and storytelling.  He gives the reader enough information that you know exactly what is happening yet, there is still a space for you to fill in your own feelings of dread and anguish, just as what the main character must be feeling. 

I am definitely looking forward to reading the finale issue.  I can’t wait to see what happens!

RATINGS

Overall 4.5/5
Story 4.5/5
Artwork 4.5/5

Thin #2 page 6 Story/Artwork by Jon Clark Lettering by April Brown