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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 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

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
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