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Graphic Novel Review: Jenny Finn by Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey, art by Troy Nixey and Farel Dalrymple

Jenny Finn by Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey, art by Troy Nixey and Farel Dalrymple

Dark Horse, 2018

ISBN: 9781427606754

Available: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology edition

A mysterious girl, Jenny Finn, arrives in Victorian England and leaves death, destruction, and a strange curse in her wake. There is a plague causing gruesome lesions in the crooked streets of London. Joe, a slaughterhouse worker, aims to find out what’s going on in his city. When the pursuit of his investigation leads him to Jenny, Joe is attacked by a religious zealot named Hornsbee who attempts to kill her, and has a number of strange and disturbing encounters: a serial murderer bent on wiping out the “ladies of the night” is loose, the ghosts of the murdered women roam the streets, and mutated half-human, half-fish people devote themselves to Jenny Finn. Pippa Platt, who clearly loves the oblivious Joe, takes him to a séance to see if a group of spiritualists can help him track down Jenny and what is happening in the town.

I liked this story for several reasons. The Lovecraftian tone and the Victorian setting were essential elements for this kind of tale. The griminess of old London and themes of punishment, forgiveness, and doom are exactly what I like in my horror. The art for this volume fits with the story well. Sequential art that includes body horror has always been a draw for me. The hybrid humans in particular are interesting in these pages.

While Jenny Finn does not compare to the Hellboy mythos, it is an interesting tale with great artwork. If you enjoy Lovecraftian tones, Victorian settings, and body horror, this would make a nice addition to your collection.

Recommended

Contains: body horror, nudity, implied rape, sex

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on April 10, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore

Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore

Tor.com, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1250314901

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Just when you thought Lovecraftian horror couldn’t get any weirder, Scotto Moore tosses this tongue-in-cheek tale of a band that is destined to bring out the end of the world into the ring. It’s a fun read that can and will be easily read in one sitting, and that’s sure to leave the reader with a smile.

The story begins when a music blogger happens upon a new group named  Beautiful Remorse on the Bandcamp website (akin to Soundcloud) with the name Beautiful Remorse. Of course, the infectious music soon causes quite a stir in the industry. The first song causes strange reactions in those who listen to it, and the narrator of the novella decides he needs to meet the singer of the band, Airee McPherson.

When he lands the interview, he learns that Airee and her enigmatic band have a plan for him: she informs him that she’s not from this dimension,  and will not be satisfied until she brings forth the end of the world as we know it.

Every day, Beautiful Remorse releases a new song that tears into the reality he knows, and something changes that just might signal the apocalypse. Airee plays the blogger like a finely-tuned instrument. He is a witness, and yet, can do nothing to stop it.

What ensues is pure entertainment, sheer fun in grandiose storytelling that just might cause old Howard Phillips to rock a bit in his grave. Reminiscent of Skipp and Spector’s The Scream, Moore’s book eschews the sheer horror of that classic for something much lighter (if you consider summoning forth old gods out of another dimension light). Think of  Lovecraft crossed with Jeff Strand and one might get the proper feel for this book. Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You is a fun read, recommended for a dark and stormy night.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on April 9, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Bitter Suites by Angela Yuriko Smith

Bitter Suites by Angela Yuriko Smith

Self-published, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1721546800

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

“Bitter Suites is supposed to entrich your life, not sap it.”  That’s what the desk clerk, and owner, of  Bitter Suites, a hotel specializing in “renewable death experiences” tells a client. It certainly is a popular enough place, but having read Angela Yuriko Smith’s novella, I can’t say that the owner accomplishes her goal. It certainly changes lives, but I don’t think I would say that’s necessarily for the better.

Bitter Suites consists of a number of stories about customers of the business, some isolated and some linked. It reminded me a bit of Neal Shusterman’s Scythe, in that technology is used to bring back the dead in that book as well, but in Bitter Suites,  this is an unusual technology available only to the very privileged, and different people have different reasons for booking a room. Early stories include a teen excited to experience his first “renewable death”, a romantic couple who choose a “Romeo and Juliet” experience that has unexpected consequences (except for the reader), a driver’s ed class that has a disturbing ending, and twins whose parents are hoping the experience brings them together (also not an especially surprising ending for the reader) Other stories are linked together as a “death junkie” finds himself banned from the hotel.

The concept is interesting, and the idea of presenting individual choices and reactions to death knowing that it will be a “renewable death” was original. However, I wish the linked stories had told us a bit more about the owner, Azreal (although the author includes a story at the end that she says will explain the origins of the Bitter Suites in a forthcoming volume). I also feel that, while this would succeed as a novella had the author left this as a standalone book, her explanation that there will be a forthcoming volume that completes the story makes what would have seemed like a finished product seem only partially complete, and somewhat of a disappointment. Rather than presenting it as one of two volumes, she would be better off including a longer collection of stories in a single volume, such as presented in the collection Machine of Death. Still, I very much enjoyed the concept. I have not read any other work by Angela Yuriko Smith to date, but I will certainly be on the lookout for volume two of Bitter Suites. 

 

Contains: Violence, gore, graphic depictions of murder and suicide.

Editor’s note: Bitter Suites is on the final ballot for the 2018 Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

Posted on April 9, 2019 by , Reply
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