Graphic Content: Thistlebone

 

Folk horror seems to be hitting a resurgence. Whether it's the fact that technology is striving to connect all of us or the way political tribalism seems to be pushing us apart, writers and readers are heading out to the fields and forests for their horror. Authors like Adam Nevill and Stephen Graham Jones have explored folk horror, and in fact there’s even an entire collection devoted to it. There is also a graphic novel whose connection to the land is spelled out in the deity that haunts the book and gives the book its title. So follow the path through the dark woods and get acquainted with Thislebone and Thislebone Book Two: Poisoned Roots.

Thislebone is the name of a pagan deity worshiped by a cult led by the charismatic Jasper Hillman. They had rejected decadent modern society and embraced the old ways, which included human sacrifice. Years ago, Avril Eason escaped the cult after almost being sacrificed, and the experience still has its hooks deep in her. Journalist Seema Chaundy takes Avril back to Harrowvale, the town once occupied by the cult. Thislebone, and other unusual characters, also await and the ancient god, and what it represents, is putting both women under its spell.

Writer T. C. Ellington offers a solid, by-the-numbers plot that doesn’t have a great deal of twists but is practically dripping with atmosphere. Both these graphic novels feel like the storyboard to a horror movie, with long pans and jump scares already added in. What really stands out in both books is Simon Davis’s hyper-realistic artwork. The faces he draws are uniquely detailed and all of them look haggard, with angular cheeks and sunken eye sockets and the color choices look like each page–each panel–could hang on a museum wall. These books are great for lovers of folk horror as well as lovers of fine comic artwork.

Have You Read (Listened) to This? The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro

 

Folklore from around the world has inspired many different kinds of horror, and many authors and creators have learned how to draw from their own culture and folklore to depict some very modern horrors. One such author is V. Castro, whose deep dives into Mexican-American culture and Aztec theology have yielded some very original takes on horror tropes. In the same way she upended the possession trope in her novella Goddess of Filth, she once again upends the avenging spirit trope in her novel The Queen of the Cicadas.

The novel focuses on Belinda Alvarez, a woman who is unhappy with her current circumstances and is attending a friend’s wedding on an idyllic farm. However, this farm is where migrant worker Milagros is murdered and who also makes a deal with the Aztec goddess of death Mictecacíhuatl. When these two women’s paths intersect across time and across the border between life and death, it will not just be an opportunity for vengeance. They will create a movement that could potentially change everything.

Castro has a penchant for description and for a narrative that shifts rapidly but this actually pulls the reader in without it becoming distracting, more like riding an amusement carnival dark ride rather than being pulled in multiple directions. Belinda Alvarez, the narrator guiding us through the story as Milagros, is a woman who is in search of direction but finds purpose in helping the subject of this urban legend. Maggie Schneider also provides an authentic, emotional voice for Belinda, showing her evolving spiritually and emotionally as Milagros, the spirit, also evolves.