Graphic Novel Reviews

The Beast of Chicago

I do not know if this can even be classified as a Graphic Novel. But anyhow, I found it in the 'Graphic Novel' section of the book store, so here is it.

"A Real Guilty Pleasure"  - NY Daily News

When I first picked up this book, It was because I was drawn to its unique cover. Thereafter reading the synopsis of the novel, I decided to get it. It seemed like the 'mystery kinda' book. You know? Everybody loves a good mystery.

Truth to be told, I was let down. It disappointed. It seems more like a illustrated story book then a good graphic novel. Sadly, it musters a feeble attempt at trying to recreate a very real true story.

This book is about serial killer H.H. Holmes (one of his many identities). He was the world's first serial killer and he existed in the late 9th century, operating around Chicago World's Fair, building literal house of horrors, replete with chute for dead bodies, gas chambers and surgical rooms. He methodically murdered up to 200(I call that massacre already) people, mostly young women.

This is part of an ongoing series 'A Treasury of Victorian Murder' by writer Rick Geary. I personally would not recommend this book unless you are a die hard Rick Geary fan or into Victorian murders and that kind of thing. It is done up in black and white, the artwork is actually quite nice and the storyline is FINE. The style of writing just does not suit me.

Saga Of The Swamp Thing (Vol 1)

This is the first original Swamp Thing Novel I picked up and will probably remain that way. You know, I love Alan Moore's style of writing, very thoughtful, sometimes very poetic and mostly beautiful. But this Swamp Thing story confuses me somewhat. Maybe it is something that I cannot grasp, but I find the storyline and plot a little incredulous. Not that graphic novels should not be that way, but I find myself lost in the smorgasbord of characters. Trying to flip back to remember names and going forward and keeping up with the plot.

I am sure many readers and fans will disagree with me. Don't get m wrong, it has nothing to do with his work, it is just me, I failed to grasp the story.

The artwork is not the best I have seen from Stephen Bissete and John Totleben.

"...Large and slow, its movement solemn and inevitable, heavy with clotted, sodden weed that forms its flesh, its skeleton of tortured root creaks with each funereal pace, protesting at the damp and sullen weight. Within their sockets its eyes float like blood-poppies in puddles of ink. You can inhale through flared nostrils, drinking in its musk, green and pungent. There is the delicate scent of mosses and lichens adorning its flanks. There is the dry and acrid aftertaste of the pin mold that spreads across its shoulders, fanning out in a dull grey rash..."

Very beautiful prose and a vivid description. But it does nothing to give an insight into the Saga of the Swamp Thing. Something which I really do not understand.

Alan Moore remains one of my favourite writers and his League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen has to be on of the best Graphic Novels around but I find it hard to appreciate this particular Graphic Novel. It is just me really.

The Best Of Graham Wilson

"Graham Wilson's Brain is one I'd be afraid to look into, but the hilarious visions that spew from it have been entertaining me for decades. No one can do macabre like he can do macabre" - Ellen Datlow

"Genuine weirdness combined with wit and intelligence" - Stephen King

This book is a mish-mash of all his weird and funny cartoons. Weird seems to be an understatement here. Some of his drawings is really hilarious and in others, lie a more somber underlying meaning.

Many of this works has to do with dark humor, macabre , monstors and everything strange. There will not be a shortage of ghouls, aliens and weird looking animals either.

Certainly this book will not appeal to everyone but it makes for an entertaining, dark perhaps, read.

Graham Wilson depicts a world that is almost same as ours: Almost, but not quite. In Wilson's world, Dick Tracy unwisely takes an undercover assignment. Museums post feeding times in front of multi-armed idols. Frankenstein's creature has a few 'stiff' ones and becomes a real party monster. There are stories behind all of them -  perhaps wisely left to the imagination of readers.

"Graham Wilson is a national treasure" -  Erica Jong

 

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