Nightbreed 9 - ‘The chicken coop of the soul’
I don’t know if they intentionally came up with corny titles for each issue, but this one beats the rest!
Led by Ritegrig (‘He’s a monster for sure!’) the blasphemers attack Boone’s party. While Narcisse expects Nana Nickneven to resort to traditional witchcraft, she makes a homemade Molotov cocktail and firebombs the attacking Blasphemers- buying themselves some time. Amid a very domestic scene where Kinski is becoming more endeared to young Tater (yes, Nana Nickneven’s Cthulhu-tainted grand-daughter!), the blasphemers arrive…
They say that ‘pigs might fly…’, and Piglet (one of the Blasphemers) is doing exactly that- carried aloft by the winged beauty-but-dumb Aello, and promptly opens fire on Boones’s tribe.
Trapped in a chicken coop by the others, Boone is again forced to play the part of martyr and attempts to get the gargoyle Mulciber to repent, before being attacked by wannabe-breeder Ritegrig, and being rescued by the tentacles of the Cthulhu child!
We now learn of Ritegrig’s traumatised childhood where he is taught by his father that ‘only the biggest and the strongest survive’. He also learns (the hard way) how his Dad had buried his Mother in the garden, and takes revenge on his Dad- courtesy of his own gun!
Using magical eggs again, Nana Nickneven begins to reveal to us (and the other Breeders) the Nightbreeders' past lives- Starting with Kinski, she shows us how he got to become ‘Breed, thanks to a love-inspiring potion gone wrong, accidentally transforming him from a regular (if unattractive) man into the moon-faced ’Breeder we know and love.
Next we learn how Narcisse, a former actor, was betrayed by his agent and friend., but not much more is revealed
Then it’s Guido’s turn (Guido, incidentally, has the ability to rip out his spinal column and use it as a weapon or lasso!) to wander memory lanes, and we learn how his mentor-mechanic (male) friend made a pass at him. Spurned by the young Guido, his mentor killed himself with exhaust fumes and left Guido with all the guilt.
Lori’s past merely (and disappointingly) reveals how she disappointed her professor by turning down an archaeological research post in favour of her performance opportunities with a rock band… which to be honest just left me wondering why they bothered including that scene…
When Cabal tries the ‘magic egg’ trick, his past reveals nothing- because Cabal has no past!
Boone is gone for good is what this suggests… ‘For you there is only a future’ Nana Nickneven prophesies.
Tired of waiting for sunlight to come so they can ‘fry’ the trapped party, the Blasphemers take ‘necessary force’ and spring into action at Ritegrig’s prompting.
We finally learn Lori’s ‘Breed powers’- after realising that their individual characteristics have been somehow determined by their past, and because of Lori’s musicianship, they get her to play guitar…
Wondering what that achieves? Well, it raises the bones of the dead, that’s what! Only in this case, the closest dead things happen to be dinosaurs!! Let the carnage commence…
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