Gothic creations

REVIEWS BY BECKY OHLSEN

This fall, graphic novels go to the dark side

Things take a dark turn in comics land this season. Maybe it's the shorter days, darker nights and colder weather—whatever the reason, storylines and artwork alike in new graphic novels have gone overwhelmingly somber. Which, of course, doesn't make them any less fun to read!

Going Hollywood

Daniel Clowes, best known for the graphic novel-turned-movie Ghost World, may be the comic-book king of gallows humor. His latest work, Ice Haven, interweaves tales from various residents of a small town in which a strange little boy has recently disappeared. There's a lovelorn teen, her precocious and equally lovelorn kid brother, an embittered poet, a clueless Sam Spade-like detective and a comic-book critic, among others, all viewed through Clowes' mercilessly sardonic lens. The pages have an antique-looking tint, and the story makes references to the Leopold and Loeb murder of 1924, lending it historic resonance as well as the sense of universality characteristic of Clowes' best work.


Another comic-book author with movie connections is Harvey Pekar, whose American Splendor became a hit film in 2003. Pekar's latest, The Quitter, combines an exhumation of his personal history with a searing portrait of life among Jewish immigrants on the hardscrabble streets of Cleveland. Illustrated in perfect Goofus-and-Gallant style by Dean Haspiel, the book starts with Harvey's pugilistic adolescence and ends with the now-famous author wondering why, after all this time, his sudden success hasn't made him feel any less insecure.


Teenage wasteland

An even grimmer look at adolescence is found in the recently concluded magnum opus by legendary artist Charles Burns. Described as semi-autobiographical, the surrealistic Black Hole follows a group of suburban teens in early '70s Seattle who are afflicted by a particularly vicious STD. "The bug" leaves its victims grossly disfigured: those who get it end up looking like monsters, ostracized from regular society and forced to retreat to the woods, where they're tormented by heavily symbolic dreams and visions. It's a gripping tale, with simultaneously gorgeous and stomach-turning artwork that somehow captures all of the paranoia and social terror of teenage life. Highly recommended—just not as breakfast-table reading.


More traditional in style, but equally artful, is Matt Wagner's Grendel: Red, White & Black, the second collected volume of stories about the mysterious, demonic crime boss Grendel. Literally black and white and red all over, the book collects stunningly executed artwork and short tales from several of the top artists and writers in comics, including Wagner himself. The segments range from Jill Thompson's painterly kewpies to Jim Mahfood's hip-hop style to the gritty scrawls of Michael Zulli, all starring the deadly Grendel, who wields a two-pronged sword and a renegade vision of justice that spells doom for shady two-bit mobsters. The ultraviolence is extreme in places, but the three-color scheme keeps it simple and surprisingly beautiful.


French twist

Existing in a darkly hilarious universe all its own, The Rabbi's Cat, by acclaimed French artist Joann Sfar, combines whimsical drawings, forbidden romance and searching questions about the nature of faith. The story is narrated by a nameless cat who belongs to an Algerian rabbi in the 1930s. When the cat eats the rabbi's obnoxiously squawking parrot, he gains the power of speech—temporarily, but long enough to find an impetuous joy in telling lies and challenging his master's long-held beliefs. Speech enables the cat to question the tenets of Judaism, even as he's arguing for his right to have a Bar Mitzvah and study the kabbalah. He and the rabbi eventually accompany the rabbi's beautiful daughter, Zlabya, to Paris on her honeymoon after she marries into the wealthy family of a sophisticated French rabbi. The artwork is as rich and lovely as the story, full of squiggly lines, tapestried walls, cobbled alleyways, opulent costumes and palpably warm lighting. Both adults and older kids will find the book charming and thought-provoking.


Becky Ohlsen keeps her comics collection in Portland, Oregon.

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