Graphic Content: Love Everlasting Volume 2 written by Tom King and illustrated by Elsa Charettier

 

People might be familiar with the book Love Everlasting, Vol. 1, written by Tom King and illustrated by Elsa Charretier (I also hope that it’s because you read the review I did for volume 1). It focuses on Joan Peterson, a woman who finds herself living out the plotlines of several romantic stories, being everything from a maid pining for her employer to a secretary who desires her best friend’s fiancée. In all these scenarios, once she supposedly finds love, she is whisked away Quantum-Leap-style to a new romance plot, and if she doesn’t fall in line and live out the story she’s in, a mysterious cowboy shows up to kill her and she respawns into a different romance plot. I was unsure how Volume 2 of Love Everlasting could add anything new to the story. It doesn’t add any details to Joan’s predicament, but it does show a wrinkle to the rules of her existence.

The scenario of Joan needing to find love to escape must still play out for her in Volume 2, even if finding that love takes a while. (Here’s where I should probably put a SPOILER ALERT for those who want to read the story and be totally surprised). In 1963, party girl Joan finds herself in a relationship with square-jawed, strait-laced Don, but Joan actually goes through an entire life with Don, from getting married and having kids to becoming a grandmother and spending her old age alone. Though Charretier’s artwork still pays homage to silver age romance comics, King’s story here is quite a change from the last volume where Joan is constantly trying to find her footing in a new universe. In this, she is trying to figure out if this world she finds herself in is real, especially now that she has created beings she should love unconditionally.

One could almost see this stop on Joan’s journey as a glimmer of hope, even if it’s a false one. Even as she starts to look at the flaws of this world, she still can’t help but want to stay because of the life she’s created here not necessarily with Don but with her children and grandchildren. Volume one apparently sets up the premise of this universe while volume 2 offers a story of what happens to Joan when her escape hatch no longer works, seemingly arguing that it’s crueler to allow Joan to have hope, even if it’s a false hope, that she can remain indefinitely in wherever she lands.

 

Graphic Content: Whisper of the Woods by Ennun Ana Iurov

 

There is a movie titled Don’t Go Into the Woods, which is also sound advice. In fact, many horror movies and stories are built around the premise of a character going somewhere they weren’t supposed to go, seemingly as an object lesson to not stray from the proper, well-lit path. Not going into the woods is, in fact, a time-honored tradition dating all the way back to Hansel and Gretel (though one could argue whether the children had any choice in the matter). Continuing that tradition of staying very far away from the woods by telling a very basic story is the short graphic novel Whisper of the Woods by Ennun Ana Iurov. 

Adam’s friend Vlad has disappeared. He went to Romania and no one has seen or heard from him, so Adam tries to track him down, venturing not only to a foreign land but to Romania’s most haunted forest, the Hoia Baciu. It is in this forest that the iele roam this forest looking for victims. Vlad might have been a victim of the iele, and Adam, who ventures into the woods, might be next.

Iurov, as both author and illustrator, has created a dark, little fairy tale that follows the basic premise of staying away from haunted places (an idea which frankly would have ended a lot of horror movies before they could get a body count) while also playing on the trope of the visitor to a foreign land or village that ignores the multiple warnings, from the townsfolk to the supernatural seeming omens, to leave. The story is rather basic, and would be rather uninspired if written out in text form, but it does allow Iurov to showcase gorgeous artwork that looks almost like hundred-year-old woodcuts. The barebones story and the artistic choices, like showing the differences of night and day by having vibrant colors during the day and stark black and white scenes at night make the book feel like a beautifully rendered children’s book. It’s a children’s book that’s not necessarily for children (for example, the nudity) but it might scratch a nostalgic itch for readers who long ago discovered they liked being scared all the way back in elementary school.

 

Graphic Content: Phantom Road Vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernández Walta

 

Jeff Lemire likes to be weird, and the graphic novel medium is the perfect genre to explore that weirdness. Lemire typically doesn’t tell a brief but powerful story; rather, he slowly introduces spooky elements and lets his readers bask in the uncertainty and their own fear. This time avoiding black barns, Lemire takes to the open road and the worlds where those roads lead in his newest series Phantom Road.

Volume 1 of Phantom Road introduces its main characters. Dom is a long-haul trucker who drives so he doesn’t have to think about the mess his life has become. He comes across a young woman named Birdie as she crawls from the wreckage of an accident. Among that wreckage is a strange artifact that attaches itself to both Birdie and Dom. Now, the two are not only thrust together but they must transport this artifact across America and through a world that is full of monsters.

The tagline of this book is “Mad Max: Fury Road meets The Sandman,” and its aesthetic blends both fictional universes. Gabriel Hernández Walta’s art adds the Mad Max element, and not just when he designs the desolate desert scenery, both in the real world and the other world. Dom’s appearance, especially when wielding a crowbar, is just one leather/armor cosplay combo away from Mad Max’s signature look. Walta also adds the Sandman elements that inform the design of the monsters, or lack of designs. Their faceless, vaguely humanoid forms are off-putting and alien enough to make readers uneasy, and uneasiness is where writer Lemire likes to leave his readers.

Much like Gideon Falls, Lemire begins this story with less information and more atmosphere. Even the truck stop with the far-from-lovable bear mascot adds to the unreal setting of the book. This first volume should leave readers wondering how and why the artifact is leading Dom and Birdie on a quest but intrigued enough to read further volumes and find the story breadcrumbs Lemire will leave.

New Arrival: Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen

 The gothic tradition might be just another subgenre of horror, but it might also be the subgenre that helped horror as a whole gain a foothold in the American zeitgeist. There are many horror fans who might remember the time they read Stephen King when they were “way too young,” but there are perhaps many others whose first entry into horror was Frankenstein or Wuthering Heights. For those fans whose minds jump to gloomy castles and stormy nights when it comes to horror, Christa Carmen’s book The Daughters of Block Island is here to give gothic horror the Scream treatment.

One of the first things this book does is remind you of its roots. The story begins with Blake Bronson, a gothic book lover and recovering addict searching for her birth mother on the mysterious Block Island. Unfortunately, she doesn’t survive the experience and she’s found murdered in a clawfoot tub. Receiving a mysterious letter in the mail from Blake, a sister she didn’t know she had, Thalia Mills also returns to Block Island to find out if Blake really was her sister and who may have murdered Blake to hide some deeply buried secrets.

For those who feel like this plot is somewhat familiar, then congratulations! You are the intended audience. This book, from the tone to the metafictional asides, is designed to tickle the pleasure centers of those who love gothic novels and love finding Easter eggs about graphic novels. Just like how the movie Scream and its many sequels dissected the horror genre, Block Island dissects the gothic tale and its many conventions, creating a gothic (naturally) tale that is more fun than frightening. It’s ultimately a lighter read for gothic fans who might enjoy the Gothic trappings in a story but maybe not the more archaic language that can be as dense and impenetrable as the fog around the island.

Graphic Content: Breath of Shadows by Rich Douek and Alex Cormack

 

Scott McAdams famously said in his book Understanding Comics that graphic novels were a medium, not a genre. He furthers this distinction by reminding readers that the graphic novel is simply a different medium, like books and television, to tell a story. That said, when graphic novels are used to tell horror stories, there must be two elements considered to fully utilize the graphic medium: the story and the pictures that tell the story. One such example of this is Rich Douek and Alex Cormack’s Breath of Shadows.

Shadows takes place in the 1960’s and Jimmy Meadows seems to have it all. His band The Shades have achieved international stardom, and their latest album just went gold, but Jimmy has a powerful addiction that threatens to ruin his and his bandmates' careers. With his bandmates fed up and Jimmy wanting to live for something other than his next fix, he and his crew travel with a group of explorers into the jungles and lost temples of South America to discover a cure for Jimmy’s addiction. This is definitely a story where the proposed cure could potentially turn out to be worse than the disease.

Much like their previous collaborations Sea of Sorrows and the award-winning Road of Bones, this book shows both writer and artist pooling their talents to create something horrifyingly harmonious. Writer Douek does not portray Jimmy and the other members of his party as likable people. They all have an assortment of addictions and agendas that turn out to be quite self-destructive. That said, readers aren’t really meant to like these people; it’s much more fun to watch a group of jerks walk slowly and steadily into a trap before seeing their horror as they realize that the trap has snapped shut. Artist Cormack shows an affinity for drawing skin-crawling horrors, an adjective that is all too appropriate. The visceral and disconcerting artwork just might have you scratching at your skin as you try to convince yourself there is nothing crawling on or beneath your skin. Douek and Cormack have once again created something more frightening than the sum of its parts and Shadows is recommended for horror lovers who don’t mind squirming in their seats.

Graphic Content: Lamentation by Cullen Bunn and Arjuna Sisini

 One of my favorite writers of horror comics is Cullen Bunn. He’s written for superheroes like the X-Men and Deadpool, but I discovered his work on Harrow County, a book full of folk horror and gruesome haints that happens to be one of my favorite graphic novels. I have checked out his other horror titles and there hasn’t, in my mind, been one that rivals Harrow County. However, Bunn is guaranteed to never be boring or rest on his folk horror laurels. As a writer, he’s always experimenting with horror and graphic storytelling, and one of his more experimental titles is the book Lamentation, illustrated by Arjuna Susini.

Lamentation invites readers to the Requiem Theater, where rehearsals are underway for a performance of Radize’s Lament, a three-act tale of Gothic horror that follows three sisters who seek refuge in a shadowy castle. It could also be Jenifer’s big break, considering she just got the role without even having to audition, but this play is more than just a story of gloomy castles and stormy nights. The story seems to be constantly changing, the director has few answers for Jenifer, and reality itself feels a little suspect. As opening night approaches, the shadow of Radize’s Lament threatens to swallow all involved.

Many have compared Bunn’s story to In the Mouth of Madness and its metafictive approach certainly makes such a comparison apt. Lamentation, however, sticks to a parallel narrative structuring that has readers moving from the story in the play to the story of the performers, seeing the story and getting glimpses behind the curtain. The narrative switches quickly from play with its Gothic spires and haunting figures to performers at a seemingly regular theater, but Susini keeps a consistent quality in both worlds, especially as the boundaries between those worlds fray. Much like Madness, the narrative makes the reader see the horror of being in a story where one can’t control the outcome because the story is already written. The premise alone could trip up readers who aren’t paying close attention, but Bunn is like Willy Wonka on the boat ride, perfectly content to let a few people fall off the boat if the rest of the passengers are terrified.

 

Have You Read This? Silent Key by Laurel Hightower

 

When it comes to combining genres, horror, like chocolate, goes with everything (if you are allergic to chocolate or simply don’t like chocolate, please insert your favorite food into this analogy). Like chocolate, when horror is drizzled onto a story, it becomes something delicious. Drizzle some horror on a western, and you get something like Alex Grecian’s Red Rabbit, drizzle it on comedy, and you get just about any work from Grady Hendrix. There are plenty of examples of genre mashups involving horror, but one that isn’t as prevalent is the action/adventure thriller (think if Stephen King wrote a story with James Patterson or C. J. Box). Laurel Hightower, however, has given readers a near-perfect blend of action/adventure and horror with her pulpy delicious tale Silent Key.

This tale features former Detective Cam Ambrose, who recently lost her husband Tony and discovered he was having an affair. Fearing those responsible may be coming after her and her family, including her young daughter Sammie and her brother/protector Dimi, she heads to Texas to her Uncle Bert’s place. What was an escape from New York turns out to be even more dangerous as there’s something haunting Bert’s place, something Sammie can see, but something that Cam will barely see coming. To save herself and her family, Cam must find out what is haunting them and what secrets her husband was keeping from her.

It might be an oversimplification to say one simply drizzles horror into another genre when sometimes it requires a balance. Too much of one genre creates a constant shifting in tone and atmosphere that dilutes the final product. Hightower, however, has found the proper balance: a suspense-driven thriller that also utilizes haunted house tropes that will genuinely frighten readers. These kinds of thrillers tend to be full of plot elements and characters that propel the narrative at the risk of losing readers, but Hightower maintains the story’s focus throughout, even creating a potential story universe that can be explored in later books. This is why horror is drizzled into these stories and not poured. Like any good chef, Hightower shows the importance of just the right blend of ingredients.