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Graphic Novel Review: The Night Eaters, Volume 1: She Eats The Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

 

Cover art for The Night Eaters Book 1: She Eats The Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

 

The Night Eaters: Volume 1, She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Abrams Comicarts, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781787739666

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

 

The creative team behind the Monstress comic series have created another world for readers to visit in The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night, the first in a trilogy.

 

Chinese-American twins Milly and Billy are in their early 20s and own their own business. They struggle to keep their restaurant afloat while navigating COVID-19. They also struggle with personal relationships and life in general. Billy spends his free time locked away killing virtual monsters, while Milly comes to terms with dropping out of med school and pining for her ex-boyfriend, who she still visits. Their parents, emotionally distant mother Ipo and laid-back father Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Ipo and Keon, immigrants from Hong Kong, have supported their children throughout their lives, but the parents worry that their support has hindered rather than helped their children. 

 

To test their strength and fortitude, Ipo forces Billy and Milly to help her clean the house across the street, which was the scene of a grisly murder, and where dolls move on their own. Ipo has been hiding a deadly secret from them their entire lives. In the span of one night, everything is revealed to the twins, but they are left with more questions than answers.  

 

Liu’s storytelling is great. The family dynamic is well-written, with tension, love, and humor, and the four of them are just dealing with each other at the forefront of the story. Milly and Billy have a believable sibling relationship, with antagonistic details on display. We get glimpses of Ipo and Keon’s relationship told in a series of flashbacks. We gradually find out more about them as a couple, as well as who they really are as people. Ipo spends more time with her plants than she does with her children, something which infuriates Milly. Keon is at times insufferably relaxed about situations that would send others into a panic or downright anger. Yet, they work as a couple, and their children are stronger than they are given credit for, especially by Ipo.

 

Takeda’s artwork is something I have sought out since I started reading Monstress. Her comic panels are beautiful. There are a few illustrations that feel like they were rushed, but her skill is still evident. Liu and Takeda give us another beautifully haunting, and haunted, in The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night. The next volume will be released in 2023. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on March 4, 2023 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Blackwood, Library Edition by Evan Dorkin, art by Veronica Fish and Andy Fish

Cover art for Blackwood Library Edition by Evan Dorkin

Blackwood, Library Edition by Evan Dorkin, art by Veronica Fish and Andy Fish

Dark Horse Comics, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781506731834  

Available: Kindle, Comixology, hardback  ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

Wren Valentine, Reiko Oyuki, Dennis Wolchinski, and Stephen Heller, teenagers with mysterious pasts and otherworldly abilities, enroll in Blackwood College after they receive hefty scholarships. Blackwood is no normal college, as they soon discover. The odd old lady at the train station is more than she seems. A well on the property has the power to resurrect the dead. The dean transforms into… something… shortly after the new students arrive, and then curses them and the acting dean, Dean Colby, binding them to the fate of the college. A two-headed monkey named Chimp Ho Tep wreaks havoc with the investigation into the mysteries of campus. Deadly mutant insects attack the school. Bodies go missing, or are stolen. Ins.P.E.C.T. (the Institute for Psychic Experimentation, Combat, and Training) is trying to encroach on the investigation. All hell breaks loose at a widely attended funeral when portals open and creatures overrun the campus. 

 

Lies and betrayal can be found around every corner. And nobody can find the Book of Despair. All the while, Dean Crosby, former Dean Ogden’s assistant Sherry Allen, Sherry’s son Jamar, and the rest of the faculty, plus the campus librarian, are trying to keep everyone safe and sane. 

 

There is so much going on in Blackwood, but the threads of each storyline are surprisingly easy to keep untangled. The characters are well written. It’s easy to like the students, and their interactions with each other and faculty fit well for their ages and the life experiences we are privy to. Sprinkled throughout are some amusing genre references. Keep an eye out for these.

 

This deluxe library edition includes the first two volumes of Blackwood and a sketchbook with character references, storyboards, and alternate covers and pinups by Jordy Bellaire, Becky Cloonan, Tyler Crook, Andy Fish, Andrew MacLean, Peach Momoko, David Rubín, Declan Shalvey, and Evan Dorkin with Sara Dyer. Artwork within and between the chapters is vibrant, and beautifully rendered. I read an electronic version of the book, so I have not seen a physical copy. It is advertised as an oversized format with 232 pages. The price tag on this is $39.99. Photographs I have seen show a gorgeous book, but it might be worth it to lay hands on the book before committing to it. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 25, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Cover art for Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Crime Scene: Poetry by Cynthia Pelayo

Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1947879515

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

 

This collection follows up Into the Forest and All the Way Through, a collection of poems about missing and murdered women and girls from all 50 states intended to bring the victims of cold cases to light without exploiting them.

 

Crime Scene is a more straightforward story. It’s a narrative in verse of the discovery and investigation of a cold case leading to the capture of a serial killer, using a format of numbered “reports”. It explodes on impact and immediately crashes into the parents’ grief on notification, then backtracks to the discovery of the crime scene and body by a brother and sister. Then we meet our protagonist, Agent K, whose investigation is complicated by her history as a witness to the disappearance of a friend when she was a girl, leading to guilt, insomnia, and a drive to solve the case. Much of the story explores both her actions and mental state.

 

Pelayo also addresses issues with reporting on true crime. Report 0011 comments on exploitation, and Report 0054, the medical examiner’s report, interestingly is nonspecific in describing the age, race, and ethnicity of the victim, avoiding the trap of “white girl” syndrome.

 

Crime Scene is a lyrical, powerful, surreal exploration of the justice system, its failures, and the human consequences. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on February 20, 2023 by , Reply
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