Lonnie Nadler

Did we need really proof that Lovecraftian horror can be narrated by someone other than nervous and erudite young white men from England or New England?

In 1887, a young woman named Eulalie Dubois, the daughter of a French trapper and his First Nations wife, tries to escape a dreary future that includes an arranged marriage and tending to the small cabin in the Ontario woods where she has spent her whole life. So she runs away from home, pinning her finances on a delivery commissioned by a mysterious man she meets at the local trading post. She sets off through the woods to the north in a snowstorm that takes on a life and increasing malevolence the farther she advances.

It doesn't take long before the cry of "Tekeli-li" tips those in the know that -- like the stories of Lovecraft and Poe before him -- this arctic journey is going to go awry in the most bizarre . . . and annoying . . . of ways.

I'm not a fan of Lovecraftian horror with its overwritten narration, gloominess, and vague sense of foreboding. And as if the ponderous nature of Eulalie's captions wasn't bad enough, the book comes to a screeching halt with eight pages of solid text, an extract from the journal of a nervous young white man writing his own Lovecraftian "heart of darkness" trek dreck. There's at least an attempt to tie all this tedious and ominous drivel into a slam against manifest destiny and white supremacy, but it gets blown about and lost in the blizzard of words.

Speaking of words, the cursive font seemed especially small and hard to read for my old eyes. I wonder if the younger generation of readers who didn't learn cursive in school will even bother trying to read this.

Lovely art, at least. I hope to see Jenny Cha given a shot at a better script sometime in the future.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapter One. the moon ladder -- Chapter Two. the world unfolding before us -- Chapter Three. minerva's owl -- Chapter Four. destroyer of ice + sickness of serpents -- Chapter Five. to hold all in one's hands… (mer)

Set in modern day Vancouver, THE DREGS is about one homeless man’s quest to find out why homeless people have started disappearing. Hooked on drugs and obsessed with detective stories, Marlowe finds himself caught up in a spiral of seedy characters and horrifying revelations.

The writing is smart, nuanced, and loaded with subtext. With a provocative concept and a sprawling storyline, the comic is based in real world issues but painted over with a darkly satirical brush. Coined as “the first homeless meta noir,” it’s a literary blend of Jonathan Swift, Raymond Chandler, and Warren Ellis (oh, and a dash of Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh… (mer)

Undone by Blood is a dual story of revenge, alternating between 1970's Arizona and a fictional version of the old Wild West. No-nonsense teenage Ethel is returning to her hometown to find out who killed her family years ago, and famed gunslinger Sol is on a mission to recover his stolen son. Ethel is actually reading about Sol's adventures in a book she carries everywhere she goes, and the comic jumps back and forth between the two story lines. It's neat to see how the compliment and echo each other. Ethel and Sol may be worlds apart, but they actually have a lot in common (and more that's uncovered with each issue).

I loved both of these characters. Ethel, with her shaved head and punk rock attitude, is unstoppable in her quest to find the man who killed her family. We follow along with her story in real time, but there are also flashbacks interspersed throughout of that fateful night, which become more frequent the closer she gets to uncovering the truth. She's tough as nails, but there are also moments in the story that remind you she's still just a kid in many ways. And Sol might be more of gunslinger archetype, but it's done so well I don't mind the cliches. We get most of his story in comic form, but then each issue also ends with a chapter written in prose from Ethel's book. It's probably the most reading I've ever done in a graphic novel, but I quite enjoyed it and it adds a little more nuance to Sol's character.

The art is also fantastic, and I want to give a special shout out to Jason Wordie who did the colors. His use of different color palettes for the three time periods (1970s, flashbacks, and Wild West) blends together really well while also helping each story line stand out. I especially like the way he did Ethel's flashbacks as mostly black and white loose lines punctuated by carefully placed colors. It really helps add to the violence and tension of those particular scenes.

Undone by Blood is a revenge story told on two levels, part western and part crime noir. It's violent, well-paced, frightening at times, and completely engaging. While switching back and forth between stories it manages to build momentum in each simultaneously, a suspenseful journey leading up to a tense climax in both. I think I preferred Ethel's story line more, though both were fun to read. The ending is also bittersweet and not exactly what I expected. Interested to see where the next issues will take us!… (mer)