Graphic Novel Review: Grimm Fairy Tales Volume 13 by Mark L. Miller

This is the story of Sela Mathers, a woman who’s in jail, though innocent, and who wishes to remain there. Sela is not your usual prisoner or your everyday woman, when it comes to that. She’s special, as she’s gifted; her gift though is a blessing and a curse at the same time, since it was it that landed her in prison in the first place.

This volume (out on March 12) explores Sela’s life in captivity in vivid images and bursts of action. One would think that her life would be boring but it’s anything but. First she has to keep her distance from the others in order not to reveal her enormous powers; then she needs to protect her weak friend-of-sorts, the Princess, and try to keep a nosy lawyer called Deena Durbin from visiting her; and at the same time she has to put up with some supernatural beings that seem to inhabit the very walls of the building.

Sela has a deeply troubled psyche, as her life not too long ago has fallen apart. Her husband had died, her daughter was taken by Venus and she’d been thrown into jail. Could things get any worse? If they couldn’t, there wouldn’t be a need for this volume. Sela, whether she likes it or not, has a gift to use and a future to explore, and no matter how much she thinks about dying, deep inside her she knows that she has to live.

Her mental instability is her worst enemy though. She wants to lay low, but when she tries to do that things don’t go very well. But what can she do? Escape? She could do that, but then what? And for what purpose? She’s lost her daughter, for that she’s certain, so what’s left out there for her to fight for?

The deeper she dives into her personal abyss, the worse things become in the real world, and before too long she comes to the point of no return, where she has to decide whether she’s going to live or die, fight or surrender. It won’t be such an easy decision to make but the path that will lead to it will packed with action, secrets and lies, dilemmas and many layers of multicolored mystery.

This is a good story, enriched by beautiful illustrations that can keep the reader asking for more. Since this is the first volume of the series that I’ve read, I don’t know much about this Grimm universe yet, but I do look forward to finding out more.

Graphic Book Review: Hawken by Benjamin and Timothy Truman

Hawken by Benjamin and Timothy Truman is a graphic novel that tells the story of a killer unlike any other, a man that seems to be a force of nature.

Tim Truman returns to the Weird West! The industry legend teams with his son, writer Ben Truman, for a violent new tale of the supernatural! In the land of the lawless rode the soulless! Scout, hunter, raider, killer-for-hire: Kitchell Hawken has been many things - most of them bad. Scalped, tortured, and left for dead by the mysterious order called the Ring, Hawken returns, seeking vengeance... but surrounded by the ghosts of every person he's ever killed!

This is one of those special graphic novels that keep the reader constantly at the edge of his sit. There’s too much action in it, great characters, some hints of dry humor here and there, and a plot that drives the narrative from peak to peak.

An old man is riding a blind mule, in 1881, on a trail called The Road of Death that goes through the Sonoran Desert. He has done many bad things in his life. And his name is Hawken. And that’s just about how the story begins; a story full of villains, and in which bloodsheds are never too many pages apart.

Hawken is a man with a mission, and he’s determined to accomplish it no matter what. As it’s already established he’s no angel, but there are worst human beings out there; beings that need to die and thus follow him every step of the way as he heads for his final destination.

The journey will prove long but the old man rode because he was not yet finished. His enemies are plenty, and they all belong to the Ring, a gang or an order of sorts, unlike any other.

Hatred seems to be the keyword in this story. The hatred he feels for his enemies; the hatred they feel for him. In fact everybody seems to hate everyone else, yet: It is rare for a man to kindle a hatred that burns so brightly that it has the power to touch the unliving. Well, Hawken does. And that’s what keeps him going; from town to town, from massacre to massacre.

The strange thing is that the most of the humor here is provided by his victims, his ghosts. They argue with him, they have a laugh at his back, and they urge him to move forward until he reaches his goal. So it comes as no surprise that when some philosophy finds its way into the text, it has to do with them:

“All men are haunted, whether by ghosts or by memories.”
Though, “sometimes it is the living who are the ghosts.”

This team of father and son do a great job in delivering to the reader a story that is not only gripping but also hard to forget. Hawken is a character that plants himself into your memory and makes you think of his persona and his mission again and again. I guess in the hands of a capable and imaginable director this could make a beautifully dark and slightly funny movie.

Graphic Novel Review: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's The Strain Volume 1 by David Lapham, Mike Huddleston and Dan Jackson

The Strain Volume 1 is a graphic novel that combines the genres of traditional vampire literature and ancient folklore in order to deliver a modern day tale of horror and nonstop action.

When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Center for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem though suspects a darker purpose behind the event - an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness!

This is an adaptation of the first novel in the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, or maybe not exactly so, as the authors point out in their introduction.

This is not an illustrated version of our novels. This is a graphic retelling: a visual translation and a definitive one. As such, we asked only for the application of fresh energy and bold thinking. Other than that, we granted David Lapham and Mike Huddleston free reign and embraced them as true partners in this enterprise.

It all begins with a flashback. We visit a rural scene in the country of Romania in 1927. An old woman tells a boy that goes by the name of Abraham the story of Jusef Sardu, an eccentric nobleman, in order to make him eat his foot. According to her, and local legend, Sardu was a man unlike any other. He was so tall that he looked down on everyone, yet looked down on no one. And the children loved him. He was sick though, but what his illness really was nobody knew.

Sardu used to live a peaceful life, until one day his noble father, decided to take him with him for a wolf hunt that would lead to a disaster and which would change, in unimaginable ways, his life forever.

Young Abraham believed the story, even though at the time he didn’t exactly know what had happened to the man. In the years to come he would come to find out, and thus find in a mysterious way his life’s true purpose.

And back to the future, which is today, we go. Though we live in an era in which a terrorist attack is always the most frightening thing that could possibly happen, a yet more unusual and terrifying event takes place; an event that will bring the then boy and now elder man Abraham back to action. When an airplane lands in New York and rumors start spreading around about the fate of its passengers, he knows who’s behind the whole thing. But how can he help the authorities cope with the threat? And how can he convince them that he, a frail old man, knows more about it than they do?

He has no choice but to risk his freedom in order to save innocent lives. So he comes in contact with the authorities. He tells them his thoughts, he yells at them that they have to do as he says before it’s too late, but to no avail.

In the meantime the flashbacks continue and during them we get to know Abraham better, as well as his nemesis, Jusef Sardu, the man he’s determined to stop no matter what. But how can one kill the undead? He knows how, but the stubborn young men won’t listen to him. They’ve even thrown him in jail.

Now it’s up to Dr. Ephraim Goodweather to save the day. But will he make it? It seems unlikely, since he doesn’t really know what he’s up against to. However his job is not the only thing in his mind right now; he also thinks about his son Zack and his ex-wife Kelly, whom he still loves, and he secretly mourns about the life that he dreamed about but that wasn’t meant to be. He’s a brave man, willing to admit his mistakes and do anything to right his wrongs, but at the same time he’s just a human being, who’s simply trying to make it through another day, and who at moments also seems weak and lost for hope.

This is a story with a good plot, great character built-up and beautifully dark illustrations which bring to life the bleak subject matter. I haven’t read the Strain trilogy, but if this graphic novel is any indication about how good the books are, I think that maybe I should at least give them a try.

Comics Review: Batula by Steven T. Seagle and Marco Cinello

“What happens when a fruit bat gets bitten by a vampire? He’s transformed into the vampire bat hero his colony might need the most… Batula.”

Batula is a short illustrated story for young readers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it cannot be enjoyed just as much by older children, like me. I wouldn’t say that this is a graphic novel but rather a fairytale of sorts.

The main protagonist is Livingston, who not just because of his name reminds us of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, since like his predecessor is a man, or rather a bat, that looks for something else in his life, who tries to make something better of his self.

Livingston lives in an orchard with the rest of his tribe and if he stands out for something is that he doesn’t stand out for anything. Bart is the one who says the funniest stories; Auggie is the best at hanging upside-down; and Drina, oh Drina, is the bat of his dreams; a bat that pays no attention to him whatsoever.

So, what is a bat to do? Well, ignoring the wise advice of others, he decides to fly to the city of men. Once there the first person he encounters is a bat in captivity. What an unusual fellow that is; he’s never seen anyone like him. The latter, that goes by the name of Vlad, urges him to open the cage and set him free, and he obeys. What does he get in exchange? The bite that will turn him into a vampire.

Livingston, who will soon return to the orchard, will start little by little changing. He’ll get stronger and a little more confident, but at the same time he’ll stop enjoying the most precious of gifts, the fruits, and will crave for meat instead. He feels that he’s becoming something that he doesn’t like, and even though he at last catches the eye of Drina, he decides that it will be better if he leaves again.

So, off he goes. This journey though will prove different from the first one, since during it he will meet Wulf, the werewolf spider, who will help him accept his new reality and make him see how he can use his newfound powers for the purpose of good. And sooner rather than later something will happen that will make him realize that once you start to like who you are, the others will like you too.

A short and beautifully written and illustrated story that has something to say to the reader; and that it does, in a graceful manner.