Creepy, disturbing, and psychedelic. Drugs, body horror, PTSD, slasher inserts, there's everything here. An interesting read, and a memorable one, I'm just not sure if I enjoyed it.

ARC through NetGalley

A horror graphic novel that's more bizarre than scary despite some gruesome moments. The story lost me in the early pages and was very hard to follow. It's hard to enjoy a book when you have no idea what's going on the entire time. Rabid deer, mothmen, drugs, body horror... and lots of confusion.

I wasn't a fan of the art style as well because the characters all looked so weird. The only redeeming factor for me is the eclectic mix of colour palettes. I love the varying tones and how they help to tell the story, from fiery red scenes to light and dreamy pink ones.

A trippy read overall and unfortunately a huge miss for me.

This was a spooky and enjoyable ride. The authors did an excellent job with telling the story and balancing all the visual elements. I am looking forward to when it is published - I'll be recommending it and might even snag a physical copy for myself!

Silk Hills is a paranormal horror set in an insulated, small town Appalachian community. When the son of a local businessman goes missing, Beth is hired to track him down. She enlists the help of the local motel clerk slash amateur entomologist. This is definitely a really weird one where XFiles meets Appalachian folklore like the Mothman in a former mining town. The art lends to the horror and slightly out of this world feel. You will finish feeling unsettled in the best way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love exploring graphic novels because I find it incredible that so many different types of art exist and this showed me why that's important! Loved this type of art style, esp when it would get a little bit gory or creepy, I think this style really works for that. Unfortunately, the art was sort of all I liked about it - I think the actual story/plot was super hard to follow and could've been way more fleshed out. I often found that I was looking for missing pages because I felt like we jumped around so much. I also think that even though the art style is really good, it didn't necessarily help alleviate the confusion. A lot of the time the colours shift drastically or when zooming out/or in on someone it's really hard to distinguish who is who in a scene and that only led to more confusion for me. Overall, not my fave for sure but I will be checking out other graphic novels from these artists!

Perfect if you love gross body horror and conspiracy theories (mothman) and everyday animals (deer) turning into disgusting monsters. And also some great casually queer characters! The plot was a little hard to follow for me; I don't know if I could clearly explain what happened by the end. I can already think of lots of readers who would love this, though - if you like Junji Ito, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, and little bit of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Stranger Things, this will work great for you!

A small town mystery where things are never quite as they seem. The art is interesting and elevates the story by drawing the reader into the characters and environment. A solid graphic novel with a solid story.

I was so invested in the plot of this book that it was really hard to look at it through an evaluative lens. I really like art choices. The color scheme is very bright and cheery, quite surprising for a horror fantasy, but it highlights the themes very well. Silk Hills is a town that seems harmless but actually has horrifying secrets. The imagery is at times extremely disturbing in all the best ways. I really liked the main character and the glimpses we got of her past. I would like to know more about her backstory. The pacing of this story is perfect, and the way supernatural details are revealed is just creepy. The ambiguity of what is real and what isn’t really just ups the terror.

"Silk Hills is changing, Beth... I'm not sure into what–"

This story was peak Appalachian horror that I could not put down. Mining towns filled with trauma? Check. Generational family feuds? Check. Do not go into those woods alone? HUGE check.

Trigger warnings for anyone who is keen to read: misogyny, body horror, military PTSD, gore, kidnapping, death, bugs, drug use.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an e-arc. It's not something I will forget anytime soon.

I have very mixed feelings about this graphic novel. The art is exactly what is promised in the description, jarring, horrific and scary. It really evokes the emotions of eerie. But the story itself doesn't feel like it has proper structure. I am not sure where it is headed towards.

Silk Hills is a small Appalachian town where something weird is going on. When Beth Wills is hired to find a missing person, it seems pretty straight forward, only the town is closed off, and there are strange moths everywhere, and there’s a strange legend about people living in the old mines. As she gets deeply embroiled in her search, she’ll run into drug dealers, a sinister deer, and psychoactive moth dust that will lead her on a terrifying trip.

Y’all. This one is weird. And that’s my jam, so I had a blast. The art was cool (and very gross at times). The story was bonkers, and the characterization was good, fit into the story well. It was a quick read and a definite recommendation for fans of The X-Files and or Twin Peaks. It’s out on June 14 wherever you procure your comics.

"Silk Hills is changing, and I'm not sure into what."

I think the art was beautiful and the artwork on the cover really drew me in.

However, I could not really grasp the plot of what was happening and it might be that with my ADHD it is hard to read and look at the same time if that makes sense (it was also my first time reading an adult graphic novel).
Some of the animal-related gory bits did not jive with me either.

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and review the ARC for Silk Hills by Brian Level & Ryan Ferrier.

A gory, modern mystery of Appalachian horror. Welcome to Silk Hills - once a thriving mining settlement, now a struggling town that sells Mothman merch to wayward tourists. A perfect read for anyone who enjoys the weird and unsettling, and doesn't mind gore and body horror.

Ex-marine Beth is hired by an influential man of Silk Hills to find his missing son. She finds Silk Hills to be both welcoming and unwelcoming - most of the welcome comes from Celia, owner of the motel and an avid bug-researcher, obsessed with a rare type of moth that is found only in Silk Hills.

But there is more to the moth, Silk Hills, and the disappearance of the boy than meets the eye, and Beth soon finds herself tangled up in more than she signed on for.

Silk Hills is touted as "perfect for fans of Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and Sons of the Devil" - two of these I'm familiar with only in passing, the other I'm not familiar with at all. So, for myself, I would say that the atmosphere of this reminds me very much of things such as Uzumaki by Junji Ito - vastly different, yes, but at the same time there's that same unsettling feeling of the normal and the weird blending together in such a seamless way until you find yourself anticipating each new panel, second guessing each character, wondering when the next weird thing is going to happen and what it's going to be, and if it's even real.

I am obsessed with the way this graphic novel uses colour. It begins with sepia tones, and as the character becomes wrapped up in the strangeness that is Silk Hills, more and more colour begins to come into play with vibrant blues and reds, but still all within that same, muted hue. It's really stunning. Even the panels in sepia are full of contrast and somehow vibrant in their own way.

The character art is great, lots of interesting shapes and saggy bits. The facial expressions are on point and convey so much emotion in the scenes. The design of the creatures, from the deer to the mothman and everything in between is also fantastic and very memorable.

There's a lot of interesting imagery, too, from bug-stuff to cocoon-like things that look rather like certain aspects of female reproductive organs.

It's very readable in terms of panel and dialogue layout, it's always clear what panel is next and who is saying what.

Really fantastic - after the epilogue I'm unsure if this is a standalone or will be continued, but if it is continued, I will definitely be reading the rest!

Where does one even begin with this one...

Silk Hills is a psychological horror set in the small town of Silk Hills. The story itself follows the ex-marine turned private investigator Beth, who is hired to search for the missing man of a lumber corporations CEO. There is something more sinister hunting Beth trying to stop her from finding the truth.

This graphic novel leans very heavy into the horror elements, which left me saying "WTF" a few times. The general vibe is something on the level of X-Files but a few shades darker. What I liked about the novel is the choice that was made with how color is used. The novel starts out in muted yellow tones, but as it goes on and Beth gets closer to the truth more color is added.

My only complaint is that some plot points hit super fast and then moved on. I think this story would be better told as serialized story over multiple volumes, so there can be more build up tension over time before the conclusion.

With that being said I really did enjoy what I read. I am still trying to wrap my head around it, I will be revisiting it in the future to see if I missed anything during my first read through.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I love the art style for this book. The colors were amazing. The story was intriguing, a bit on the weird to obscure side, but definitely fun quick read.

3/5 !

I enjoyed this graphic novel. It is exactly my taste--lesbians, weird small town, freaky monster design... all very good. I especially loved the designs for the mothmen and the Kitter family and how they blended together, with reality and the supernatural and hallucinations all folding into one another. One is never sure exactly what was real and what was false and what lay in between.

My biggest criticism is that this tries to do too much. There is simply a lot going on in Silk Hills--several different beings, different supernatural things going on, and only 180 pages to get it across. Many aspects of the narrative I felt were rushed or really could have improved had they had more room--for example, the Kitter family, the relationship between Beth and the moth scientist, and the presence of the Hallway Man (who looked very cool, but whose whole deal was extremely confusing).

The imagery, character design, and concept are what really carried this for me. The Hallway Man is delightfully creepy, the mothmen are just so freaky looking, and the deer-thing was peak body horror. Monster lovers and creature fans will definitely want to check this one out if only for the designs alone. Additionally, perhaps strange thing to say, but I also really loved the way in which the violence was done, with lots of headshots done in really interesting ways. Gorey but not extremely realistic.

The narrative just needed a little more space to breathe and develop to its full potential. For people who really love graphic novels, that might not be an issue, but as someone who doesn't read many graphic novels and is more of a fan of slow to medium paced books with lots of tension and buildup like myself, the narrative will leave you wanting more from the story.

Thank you, NetGalley and Oni Press for the chance to read and review the ARC for Silk Hills by Brian Level and Ryan Ferrier. There was a lot going on in this graphic novel it was creepy and disturbing. There were also drugs, body horror and PTSD in the story. This graphic novel held my interest from the start, and it was a quick read. I loved the way that this novel was illustrated and how colourful it was.

"Silk Hills is changing, and I'm not sure into what."

Thank you so much to Oni Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.

My first thought upon finishing this graphic novel was, "What did I just read?". It's gross, psychedelic, and just flat out weird. There is a heavy dose of body horror here, so this one will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea.

The plot felt very disjointed, and the scenes would jump so quickly that it was confusing at times. I felt like we went through the story so quickly that the characters were even getting left behind. I would have loved to have had more lore about the town, and more reasons to care about the fates of the characters. Instead of leaving me horrified I'm more left with the feeling of, "Huh, well that was a thing".

I thought I was ok with the art style at first, but the more I read the more I disliked it. The characters weren't drawn in the way that they described each other, and their looks were very inconsistent. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not, but the answer isn't obvious. It's definitely a more cartoonish style, which at times left some creatures looking more "Saturday morning cartoons".

With all of this it's still quite a brutal story. Gore and body horror are major components here. There are also depictions of PTSD and drug use, so you might want to check out content warnings before picking this up.

As someone who loves the story of Mothman, and cryptids in general, I was looking forward to diving into this one, but I think the storytelling needs to be tightened up to really make this graphic novel shine.

There are some aspects of this graphic novel that I really loved, but overall I found it a little confusing, and missing some key information.

I absolutely loved the art. They use color as a tool to tell the story. Monochromatic yellows at first to bring you into this sense of dull mountain life. Then the first hints of color as Beth discovers something more interesting about the town, the Dust. As the story goes on, more color is introduced, always coming in when we discover some new horrible secret about the town. That thoughtful use of color really spoke to me. I also really love the cartoonish style of the drawings. The artist went back and forth between realism and a lose expressive art style. The only time I didn’t like this style of art was with the “deer”. It somehow ended up looking really funny instead of being scary.

The setting of Silk Hills was such an old fashioned almost dated setting to place this story in. However, the character of Beth contrasted beautifully against that cliched setting. Beth is ex military, lesbian, and she felt very real, very youthful. The author did a wonderful job of slowly revealing who Beth is.

As far as the general story, I was a little confused about a few things. By the end, I wasn’t really sure what the history of Silk Hills had to do with the ledgend of the Mothman. Trying not to include spoilers, so I’ll just say, the miners. Where they a cult at the end? Who were all those people in there with them? Was the conspiracy town wide? Who else knew about it?

I would reccommend this book to someone who likes cult classics, old Hollywood horror flicks, The Fly, The Blob etc… There were some slightly graphic imagery, so readers aged 17+.

The artwork in this book is absolutely phenomenal.
Graphic novels are something I absolutely love reading so I was very excited to get this one approved.

Silk hills is a dark, twisted horror tale told through the most detailed and mesmerising drawings.
The attention to detail is something I was really amazed by,
In terms of storytelling I thought this one was very clever.
I did find it a little hard to follow at times especially on the busier pages as sometimes the storyline tended to jump and I would have to go back and forth.
But for the artwork alone I will be picking up more of these artists works.
Thanks so much for the copy of this book.