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Graphic Novel Review: Cereal: Sweet Darkness (Cereal #1) by Mark Russell, illustrated by Peter Snejbjerg, Angelica Ingio, Ole Comoll, and Rob Steen

 

Cereal: Sweet Darkness (Cereal #1) by Mark Russell, art by Peter Snejbjerg, Angelica Ingio, Ole Comoll, and Rob Steen

Ahoy Comics, 2023

ISBN-13: 9781952090271

Available: Paperback

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

The Marquis de Cocoa, a newly turned vampire, insists on continuing a tradition for the villagers in his township in order to conceal his condition. He faces sunrise, as long as he can bear it, to host his popular breakfast parties. If he does not, he fears the people he has come to know and love over the decades will turn on him and punish him for the deaths that have occurred recently. With his faithful wife by his side, this morning’s breakfast festivities begin with a few rather recognizable characters. We have the Barrie family with sons, Franken and Beau, in tow, the latter being quite fond of blueberries. There is a rather dapper looking captain with a handlebar moustache and wearing a perfectly coifed powdered wig. When the Marquis’ rival, the Duc L’Orang, arrives the marquis attempts to outlast his guest lest he discover his secret affliction. Lady Cocoa pardons herself to weep in the hall, and the duke is quick to join her, attempting to strike a deal with her to rid her of her sadness, and help the marquis with his problem. What the smarmy duke doesn’t realize is how loyal she is to her husband until she meets L’Orang at the awaiting carriage and devours him after she has been turned herself. This is only the first chapter of the book.

 

Further chapters give us the tragic origin of Franken Barrie; the story of the Leprechaun King’s much desired crown, adorned with emblems representing the four wisdoms; the vengeful ghost who executes the wearer if they do not respect the wisdoms; and more. Political intrigue runs throughout, as well as depictions of numerous cereal mascots, including Snap, Crackle, and Pop, The Brute, Toucan Sam, and so many others. Seeing the Honey Smacks cereal mascot as a gravedigger was great.

 

Cereal collects chapters that were originally published in the Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror anthology and includes three new tales. While clearly satire, Cereal: Sweet Darkness spins suspenseful tales with deeply tragic and interesting characters. I find myself wanting more of these stories. Writer Mark Russell authored the satirical Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, which reimagined the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character as a gay playwright during the era of McCarthyism. It was well done, so trust that Russell presents a great story here as well.

 

Highly recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on December 14, 2023 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: The Glass Scientists, Volume 1 by S.H. Cotugno

Cover art for The Glass Scientists, Volume 1

The Glass Scientists, Volume 1 by S. H. Cotugno

Razorbill, 2023

ISBN-13: 978593524442

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

The Glass Scientists is a webcomic created by S. H. Cotugno. Set in 19th Century London, Dr. Henry Jekyll founds The Society for Arcane Sciences, a place where mad scientists prove they are more than just that. They can thrive in an accepting environment where they can conduct their experiments without fear of interruption, defy laws of nature while in a safe area, and make friends while doing it. London isn’t the ideal environment for these eccentrics, with officers of the law and other officials concerned about their practices after the Frankenstein incident. With mobs taking it into their own hands, or pitchforks and torches, to hunt down what they don’t understand, Dr. Jekyll has his work cut out for him in trying to improve public opinion, as well as keeping up the morale of the scientists within the walls of the Society. There is also the new play debuting right across the street, allegedly based on the “very real” story of Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature, just as Dr. Jekyll is about to show everyone the value of the Society within London.

 

So many things are against the good doctor. His own alter ego, Edward Hyde, is hellbent on running amok, and nearly causes the complete dissolution of the Society for Arcane Sciences. The Creature arrives, carrying the very doctor who created him, Dr. Frankenstein: both prove to be quite different from the little play going on across the street. Things spiral further out of Dr. Jekyll’s control, and his once loyal friends and colleagues begin to turn against him. Their search for the mysterious and dangerous Mr. Hyde is yielding no results: Dr. Jekyll, having shut him into the deepest corners of his mind, thinks them both safe. He is terribly wrong.

 

I enjoyed this interpretation of the Jekyll and Hyde tale. Rather than being fully separate from each other, each knew the other was present. They could hold conversations together and understand each other’s thoughts and motivations. The transitions between Jekyll and Hyde’s dialogue were easy to follow, as the text was white against a black field when Hyde was communicating in the doctor’s head. Dr. Jekyll could also allow Hyde to take over for a time, with Jekyll’s tall brunette gentlemanly figure turned into the green-eyed, blond-haired, unkempt Hyde. You know mischief will ensue with Hyde around. The Society’s lodgers are a great addition to the story. Newly discovered werewolf Jasper Kaylock, manager and cook of the Society Rachel Pidgley, and Dr. Frankenstein are fantastic characters. A few examples of the Society’s scientists are Miss Lavendar, a Junior Extremofaunic Zoologist; Dr. Ranjit Helsby, Exploratory Bathynaut; and Dr. Maijabi, Ectoplasmic Pathologist. I loved all of them, but I won’t list them all here.

 

The artwork in The Glass Scientists is crisp and the colours are wonderful. Volume One collects Chapters 1-7 of the webcomic and includes a short story, “The Creature and the Coffeehouse”,  as well as“The Vault,” which includes a brief history of Cotugno’s creative process, and additional materials. The story contains LGBTQ+ themes and characters, making this an inclusive title. The creator recommends the comic for ages 13 and up. The creator of one of my favourite shows, The Owl House, wrote a blurb for the first volume, which gave me a hint that I would enjoy it. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

 

Posted on November 20, 2023 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: The EC Archives: Terror Illustrated edited by Daniel Chabon, original series editor William M. Gaines

Cover art for EC Archives: Terror Illustrated

The EC Archives: Terror Illustrated edited by Daniel Chabon, original series editor William M. Gaines

Dark Horse, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781506719788

Available: Kindle edition, hardcover ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

The EC Archives: Terror Illustrated includes illustrated prose stories of terror, murder, and the supernatural with works by Al Feldstein (also writing under Alfred E. Neuman), Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Johnny Craig, and more! This collection also features the never printed third issue, and a foreword by Mick Garris. The book, advertised as “Picto-Fiction,” contains illustrated stories rather than a traditional comic.

 

I’m going to start out this review with the negative. There are some problematic stories in this volume, the worst of them being “Mother Love” by Maxwell Williams and illustrated by Charles Sultan, and “The Long Wait” by Alfred E. Neuman and illustrated by Johnny Craig. In “Mother Love,” Leona’s father sells her to a brute named Clint as a bride. She is endlessly abused and tormented, and rape is alluded to in this story. She is described as no smarter than a toddler, and lines like “Not that Leona thought of her life as a horror. Her mind was not capable of that” made this hard to get through. It gets worse. Clint discovers she is pregnant, and after he beats and abuses her further, he devises a plan where he would abandon her at the hospital. I don’t often ruin the end of the story in my reviews, but I will here. She eventually escapes the hospital and returns to the cabin, with her stillborn baby in a jar, and kills Clint. When the police arrive, nothing is done to try to figure out why what happened, happened. An abused woman is arrested for killing her abuser. This story is problematic on so many levels. 

 

In “The Long Wait” by Alfred E. Neuman, illustrated by Johnny Craig, Red Buckley murders his boss, plantation owner Emil Duval. As can be expected when a plantation is mentioned, you can bet there are racist depictions of Black “workers” Kulu approaches the main house and says “Kulu wanna be house-boy. Kulu wanna be servant.” Yikes. You think Buckley gets his comeuppance in the end…but it still reveals a racially insensitive reason that it occurs. 

 

This is not to say there are not some gems in this volume. There are some good stories here. The first story in issue 1, “The Sucker”, by Maxwell Williams and illustrated by Reed Crandall, is told in second person: you are on the run when you meet a beautiful dame who cheats and robs you, and the only thing you can do every night is kill her…again…and again…and again. In “Halloween”, by Alfred Feldstein and illustrated by Reed Crandall, Ann Dennis is hired as the matron of Briarwood Orphan Asylum by the headmaster, Eban Critchet. She does her best to improve the lives of the orphans in her care, but when she discovers what the headmaster has been doing, she takes matters into her own hands, and the children aren’t far behind. “The Gorilla’s Paw”,  by Alfred E. Neuman and illustrated by Johnny Craig is a violent and brutal retelling of the classic “Monkey’s Paw” tale. After a man is convinced he must purchase a mummified gorilla’s paw from a curio shop, he is plagued by nightmares and wishes he had never bought it, then awakens to find the paw holding the amount of money he paid for the paw. When he discovers the secret of the paw, he keeps on wishing, and his last wish proves to be a doozy. “Keepsake” by Jack Oleck, illustrated by Graham Ingels, gives us the story of an undertaker mourning the death of his childhood friend and unrequited love, Miss Hettie. During his time as undertaker, he kept a deadly secret for her, and after he discovers another one of her little secrets, he will be able to keep another. A fun inclusion in the third issue is the “Letters to the Editor” column the best one that denounces the magazine as “the highest and most advanced form of Brainrot on the market today” and “the stories and thoughts that these magazines contain are truly the work of Satan.”

 

This volume provides a glimpse into the horror enjoyed in the 1950s and echoes the radio plays such as Suspense, The Mysterious Traveler, Inner Sanctum, and others. Despite the problematic elements of some of the stories, I still found enjoyable tales of terror within these pages, and the artwork was well done. This book, along with other EC Comics archival editions, would be an interesting addition for comics history, as well as courses studying comics and graphic novels. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on March 18, 2023 by , Reply
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