Crush has all of the ingredients for a teen horror drama.

You have a young, goth girl, and her brash, red-headed best friend. There's a mysterious birthmark, a bit of amateur witchery, the manifestation of a Hyde-like alter-ego who metes out violent revenge for insults large and small. And there's the Vesper Institute, a sinister organization that's tracking all this, keeping potential witnesses silent and transforming disenfranchised teens into werewolves with a grudge.

The Crush graphic novel collects issues 1-4 of the Crush comic-book series. It contains the first cycle of Elizabeth Mason's story, establishing her dreadful home life (are those really her parents?) and introducing her friends and foes at school. Just turned 18, she feels isolated from everyone around, with the sole exception of pal Jen Tanaka. Oh, and she has a crush (pun intended) on Jen's biker brother, Carl.

A really bad day leads Liz into a dalliance with witchcraft. She doesn't expect it to work, of course, and is horrified by the apparent result. But then there's someone on her tail who seems to know a lot about her situation, so it remains to be seen if her naive bit of spellcraft is truly the cause of her condition.

The story by Jason Hall is tight and fast-moving, perfect for the high-action threshold of your average teen, and there's enough whimsy built in to keep the plot from spiraling into darkness. Sean Murphy's art is clean and kinetic, borrowing elements of manga without looking like a Japanese import. Of course, Liz's alter-ego follows in the comic tradition of becoming much bustier during her transformation, too.

The collection (from Dark Horse's Rocket Comics line) ends with Liz, Jen and Carl taking their troubles on the road. The book is poised to go in a lot of potential directions, and the story is interesting enough to make me want to know where they'll go.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 18 December 2004