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Graphic Novel Review: Belzebubs by J.P. Ahonen

Belzebubs by J.P. Ahonen

Top Shelf Productions, 2019

ISBN: 9781603094429

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, comiXology edition, special editions with full album and band merch

The life of a metal band can be challenging, especially trying to balance time with family and religious obligations to fulfill. Called a “trve kvlt mockumentary”, Belzebubs, which started out as a webcomic,  gives us a glimpse of the life and times of a black metal band, complete with home life, raising a family, young love, and a healthy dose of the occult. The band is struggling with staying afloat after a lengthy hiatus. With their new line up– Sløth on vocals and guitars, Hubbath on vocals and bass, Obesyx on lead guitar, and new member Samaël on drums– they are ready to take on the world… and the underworld. Oh, and everyone wears corpse paint, even Grandma.

Since there is a lot of content relating to Sløth’s family life, it would be terrible of me not to include the female characters in this review. Lucyfer, Lilith, and Grandma are all compelling characters. Lucyfer, Sløth’s wife, is a stay-at-home mother, and her interaction with their children is loving and hilarious. Lucyfer finally gets the baby to sleep, but when she turns her back, baby is floating in the air and muttering incantations. Lucyfer and Sløth are a devoted couple, and will do anything to protect their kids from harm. When Leviathan wakes his parents up to complain that God is watching him, Sløth wastes no time in chasing an old man with a long white beard, and wearing a robe, out of their yard. Their daughter, Lilith, is a particularly compelling character. She’s a teenager with hormones everywhere, falling in love with a nerdy boy in class who compliments her on her choice of headphones, and doing everything she can to give him the hint. Her methods are unconventional, but relatable at some level. Then there’s Grandma. She’s a fairly recent widow, but will not let Grandpa go… literally.

There is also plenty of Lovecraftian and demonic activity going on in this series: Grandma makes the kids’ favorite meal, Soup Niggurath; Leviathan accidentally leaves a portal to another dimension open and demons get in the house; and Sløth and Lucyfer even take a relaxing vacation to Hell to get away from it all.

I highly recommend Belzebubs to fans of black metal and Lovecraft. It’s funny, irreverent, and, in its own weird way, heartwarming. The fact that the band has a website with their album, band merch, and music videos makes it all the more interesting for me.  Highly recommended.

Music video link for Cathedrals of Mourning: https://youtu.be/SkdkZN1rduo

Music video link for Blackened Call: https://youtu.be/sxzb00dqNg4

Contains: a little bit of nudity

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on June 23, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Ouija by Elysia Dobbins


Ouija by Elysia Dobbins

Newman Springs Publishing, 2019

ISBN 978-1-64096-675-8 (paperback); ISBN-978-64096-676-5 (digital)

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Ouija by Elysia Dobbins takes place somewhere on earth and sometime in the future. Humans and non-humans have paranormal powers and gather at a gala convention showcasing vendors of magic and classes on the supernatural. Jesse Monroe, a pretty young witch, befriends Nako, a winged seraph cat, and Louis Lygtbut, a humanoid doctor with a scaly torso from another planet. The leering owner of the enormous casino hotel where the convention is being held, invites them to a demonstration of a new virtual Ouija game, unbeknownst to the knowledge that Charlie, a malevolent spirit, has hacked into the software. The casino hotel was built on the ruins of a mental hospital, where patients were tortured, a meat-packing plant where humans were butchered, and a church. Ages ago, a cataclysmic battle was fought between forces of good and evil at the site.

When the program is activated, Charlie materializes and opens a gate to the spirit world. Crazed ghosts of patients, nurses, butchers and monsters come through. Charlie seizes control of the service and security robots. They begin massacring the guests. Jesse and her friends seek refuge in the hidden, astral remnant of the church. Aegis, the powerful, winged angel, who failed to save the church and its priestess ages ago, guards the remnant. Can Jesse and her friends save themselves and win the new battle?

Young adult readers will appreciate the short, 126-page novel. The plot moves along quickly and many new and familiar characters, vampires, ghost dogs and spirit hounds make appearances. The novel has a lot of action, but not too much gore.  Fair warning: the publisher probably used a digital editing program, as there are frequent grammatically incorrect, but not misspelled words, that interrupt the reader’s flow. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee

Posted on June 22, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: I Dream of Mirrors by Chris Kelso

I Dream Of Mirrors by Chris Kelso

Sinister Horror Company, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1912578078

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

File this short novel under the “mind-blowing, mind-boggling, weird horror” category. There. It’s done. Attempting to classify I Dream of Mirrors is nearly impossible to explain or put into a genre box.

It’s one of the cool stories of weird fiction, which can include horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, or bizarro fiction. Readers who crave the out-there settings and characters of Jeff Vandermeer, Neil Gaiman, and John Langan will find plenty to lose themselves in here, with a tale that, while heady and intelligent, keeps itself grounded.

Kurt wakes up to an apocalypse caused by Dunwoody, a manic billionaire who has changed the world through technological brainwashing.”People” who have been affected at first appear to be zombies, but are actually willing participants in Dunwoody’s new world order, that harkens back to an 1984 motif. The ones who resist are the outsiders: those who have crushing pasts that leave them strugging to survive. Kurt teams up with Kat to battle the People and Dunwoody, along with a bevy of other odd characters, each with his or her own mind-bending backstory.

At the heart of this story is a search for identity, as Kurt has no recollection of his life before the change– who he was, or what he did. The transmissions from Dunwoody’s tower and hallucinations attempt to convince him that he’s merely a part of the system, a figment of humanity’s imagination that never existed in the physical world. What could be considered an exercise in finding one’s identity morphs into something that reaches much deeper, yet still can be completed in one surreal sitting.

What raises I Dream of Mirrors above the mass of weird fiction floating through the stratosphere is Chris Kelso’s writing. He crafts every sentence into something that both engages the reader and detaches them from reality. Add him to a very short list of newer authors to place on the “must read” list. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by David Simms

 

Posted on June 21, 2019 by , Reply
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