Beautiful Darkness
Kerascoët’s and Fabien Vehlmann’s unsettling and gorgeous anti-fairy tale is a searing condemnation of our vast capacity for evil writ tiny. Join princess Aurora and her friends as they journey to civilization’s heart of darkness in a bleak allegory about surviving the human experience. The sweet faces and bright leaves of Kerascoët’s delicate watercolors serve to highlight the evil that dwells beneath Vehlmann’s story as pettiness, greed, and jealousy take over. Beautiful Darkness is a harrowing look behind the routine politeness and meaningless kindness of civilized society. goodreads link
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
Live, laugh, shed blood. Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town in this twisted debut graphic novel.
Don’t murder the locals—this is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong’s cardinal rule. A sea of potential victims is in the city just beyond the forest, but when you’ve worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie, the last thing you want is to disturb the peace. So imagine Sam’s indignation when one of Woodbrook’s own meets a grisly, mysterious demise. You wouldn’t blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts barking up the wrong tree. goodreads link
The next one I will be reading is
Through the Woods
‘It came from the woods. Most strange things do.’
Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.
These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.
Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there…
Good to see anytime an English-speaker enjoys Beautiful Darkness. It’s one of my very favorites, just as Kerascoët (pseudonym for a husband & wife team) are some of my favorite artists in comics. In the story, I really enjoyed that things could switch back and forth between innocent & sinister in a heartbeat, reminding me a bit of Carrol’s Alice books.
Btw, since you liked this one, I can also recommend Satania. Same artists, same bewildering journey in which few survive, same feeling of slight madness all around. Where it differs is that Satania is more of a disastrous, unintended journey to the center of the Earth.
I did a review of it at my site, but sadly, Imgur lost the images in the body and so far I haven’t found where I archived them locally. On the pro tip, the lead image which displays all thumbnails is still up, as well as the text review. Here’s the lead image: https://i.imgur.com/qTfQ3co.jpeg
And review here.
