Fascinated by the marmite reaction to 'The Crawly Man'. I'm in the love it camp. Partly it's the art, but also it's the mashing-up of various very different sorts of horror stories.
Obvs the Wicker Man, but also the 'crazy family who kidnap children for horrendous purposes' (See Mum&Dad - or rather don't, it's seriously unpleasant), and then the 'magician and his demon on a mission' story (OK so I can't think of a film to match that one has such, unless you count the adaptation of Constantine) - and for good measure the 'monster in the cupboard' story, coupled with the 'child is secretly a conduit for demons' story, which are both basically Stephen King staples.
This quite neatly sums up a lot of why I didn't like it - it feels like a load of ideas nicked from other sources and poorly jammed together. Thinking critically about it though, what I
really don't like is the protagonists - the bloke feels very generic (he's cynical and throws people through pub windows! he's a cool tough guy!) and the 'banter' dialogue with his magic dog is awful. I think funny, naturalistic banter is really hard to write (unless you're Dan Abnett) and it's something that often switches me off on books and comics.
I actually think the tale would be better without them in it, focusing on the other elements.
I'm actually quite glad that other people are digging this story, because it means rather than being rubbish it's just not my bag: it's an anthology and I can take there being stuff there I dislike if it's working for someone else!
