Restless Dead

 

Ghostlore Vol. 1 by Cullen Bunn, Various Artists

My Rating: Three out of Five Stars

My Review on Goodreads

Ghostlore is a dark story of a family that is separated by a rift between differing ideologies. The oldest child is Harmony, a teenager who rejects the faith that her father preaches in a dying congregation. But when a car accident leads to the loss of the rest of the family, they are the only ones left, both with the ability to see and talk to the dead, and vulnerable to evil undead forces.

This story is more vibes than actual plotting. The characters of Harmony and Lucas are well-developed and their actions make sense through the visual narrative. The artwork is vivid and nightmarish, but doesn’t clarify the story. I felt like things ended with my level of confusion very high. I didn’t like the feelings I had when I read this story. I enjoy horror and the feeling of being unsettled, but this was more of a yucky and unpleasant feeling. Along with the lack of resolution, even knowing this is an ongoing story, I don’t feel inspired to continue this series. I have questions, but I don’t want to hang in long enough to get answers.

The Swamp Has Its Secrets

 

Swamp Thing, Vol.1: The Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore (writer), 

Stephen R. Bissette (Artist),

 

John Totleben (Artist),

 

Dan Day (Artist

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Review on Goodreads

I was reading this over a long period, in spurts. With the craziness of life, I just haven't had much time to read graphic novels, unfortunately. I read this on my Ipad, which is really good for looking at comic panels. I love how the Kindle (Comixology) version allows you to tap on each panel and it magnifies the panel. This is the Alan Moore classic that revamped the character. It's very, very dated in the art style, but that's okay. It's historical. The colors are really bright, almost obnoxiously so. It's an 80s comic printing thing, and as I've studied comic art history, that was kind of fun to experience the medium. I was quite pleasantly surprised at how scary this was. Each story is kind of like a monster of the week format, which I absolutely love. For such an older comic, it really was spooky, scary and disturbing. In fact, this would have made a good Halloween read. I think I finished it in the late spring, so unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy the spookiness for October. I definitely ship Swamp Thing/Alec and Abigail. Their doomed(ish) romance appeals to my sensibilities. I had watched the short-lived but very good DC TV show Swamp Thing and it was nice to compare it with the comic story (it holds up very well, IMO).

There's something about Swamp Thing that I really dig, so I know I'll be reading more.

I would recommend reading this if you don't mind the dated look of 80s era comic books.

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