Mad Cave’s The Mammoth is not going to be what anyone expects with how the scale presents itself. The core of this supernatural horror isn’t trying to figure out how a phenomenon kills people, but the loss of a victim.
Mad Cave’s…Where’s The Mammoth?
A title like this reminds me of Zach Creggar’s Barbarian, a movie whose title is all about defying expectations.
Paul Tobin always focuses on the humanity of a situation. So when a scientist gets crushed in gruesome fashion, finding out how is secondary. Through the other cast members, their mourning for their teammate is a genuine look at the victim. It makes Olivia feel like she’s not just a plot element to motivate them to drive the plot forward. Especially to her secret girlfriend Jess who is feeling Olivia’s absence the most. Jess is doing just about everything to distract herself from the fact that Olivia is dead. She practically begs her dog to talk her out of seeing Olivia’s last moments. This is an engaging level of grief that displays denial at odds with a person’s need for closure.
If the inner turmoil wasn’t enough, there are ghosts including Olivia’s. But anything supernatural feels like the last thing anyone on this team needs. Their friend is dead and they just want to move on. Except… why move on when you become aimless like these ghosts migrating across a valley?
Scale of The Mammoth
Arjuna Susini gives the most intense moments of Mad Cave’s The Mammoth with empty space, framing, and angles. Probably best seen in the event of Olivia’s death.
The two page spread overheads everything making Olivia look small and insignificant. It would’ve been bad enough if this was just an earthquake but when Olivia get crushed it’s even more tragic. Whatever crushes Olivia can’t be seen only felt through Charles Pritchett’s lettering. But the last two panels completely cover the bottom right corner with Pippa Bowland changing the colors to red to evoke the gruesome effect of Olivia’s death. It serves as a great transition to the next page where readers and characters focus on Olivia herself and not what killed her.
Find You Way In Mad Cave’s The Mammoth
Mad Cave’s The Mammoth is one going to be one horror series to remember. It defies many expectations by focusing on characters dealing with loss and the effect of being haunted rather than the supernatural. That way readers can feel engrossed in an empathetic connection to feel the emotional weight they’re going through. Better yet, when the paranormal does happen there’s a parallel between the cast and the ghosts. Feeling aimless after a terrible loss is something universal, sometimes that’s even scarier than what kills people. But that’s also what allows people to connect. So with just the first issue it gets 9/10.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.