My Rating
“Down Home”
Yee-haw! It’s gonna be one of dem there good ol’ family feuds, starring the Ketchums and the Kingsbridges! Guess what happens when werewolf Jake Ketchum and the rest of Scare Tactics break down near his ancestral homestead? Let’s just say the band is about to find themselves in one helluva pickle!
Can y’all say shotgun weddin’? Cousin Pearl, get your dress on because we got ourselves some matrimony goin’ down! It seems Jake’s relatives have been waiting a long time for their wandering family member to come home, and they aren’t about to let him leave again. Don’t worry, though. Jake Ketchum will make everything bona fide and marry his sweet cousin Pearl—or those scrawny friends of his are goin’ straight into the pit! Can ya say human sacrifice?
But there’s more than an angry family and forced marriage waiting down on the Ketchum homestead. Something called Tsathugoth lurks beneath the property, and Jake’s relatives intend to give the creature exactly what it wants. You may be askin’, “Pa, will Tsathugoth be rejectin’ dat Arnie fella?” Dat dog don’t hunt! Grab the weddin’ ring, load the shotgun, and collect the series to find out what happens next!
Reviewer Notes
This is easily my favorite issue of Scare Tactics so far. “Down Home” finally digs into Jake Ketchum’s backstory, and his family makes the other members of Scare Tactics look downright normal. We have feuding families, a shotgun wedding, human sacrifice, some seriously strange relatives, and a monster named Tsathugoth hiding beneath the homestead. What more could you ask for?
I especially enjoyed learning more about Jake and where he came from. Until now, he has mostly been the werewolf member of the band, but this story gives him some history and explains why he might not be eager to attend the next Ketchum family reunion. The whole Ketchum-versus-Kingsbridge situation has the feel of an old Appalachian family feud filtered through a supernatural horror comic. Werewolves versus ghouls—or at least I think the Kingsbridges are ghouls. Whatever those ugly bastards are, they certainly aren’t the welcoming-neighbor type.
The humor also works extremely well in this issue. Scare Tactics has always mixed monsters, rock music, and comedy, but “Down Home” finds just the right balance. The story never takes itself too seriously, yet it still expands Jake’s character and the mythology surrounding him. After several issues of getting to know the band, I like seeing the series finally pull back the curtain on one member’s past. If the remaining characters get stories this entertaining, I’m definitely looking forward to learning where the rest of these freaks came from.