Title: Weirdling
Author: Mike Dubisch
Publisher: Strange Fear
Copyright: October 1, 2007
ISBN: 0978984110
Pages: 128
Price: $15.95
Rating: 9
Synopsis:
Anna Mandretta is a young woman on a submarine-like vessel submerged in the waters of an alien moon. By night, she enters a mandatory lucid-dream that causes her to take on the life of an alternate reality, in which she is an acclaimed surgeon at the Miskatonik University Hospital. Unable to save the life of an infant afflicted with a hideous, hissing tumor, she is assaulted by the boy’s parents, who claim he will be reborn to eternal life to rule the world in the name of an ancient deity, Azag-thoth. This gothic space fantasy follows Anna as she shifts between her horrific reality as a medic on the front lines of a war against the mysterious Xax and the supernatural life she leads in the recurring dream that draws closer to becoming her waking world. The multilayered graphic novel—in which the true meaning of the events seems constantly just beyond the reader’s grasp—bridges horror comics with a blend of military sexism, mind control, political commentary, and quantum string theory.
Review:
Pro-
I have to say the biggest strength of this work is the art. It is incredibly detailed and full of a sense of energy to it. This is even more impressive when you consider that the setting go from a high tech future, to a 1920’s New England, and add in fanatical creatures, that is a lot of detail in a varying styles to maintain. Seeing people living in cold metal spaceships far from Earth and then seeing zombies shamble through a small 1920’s town, it’s all looks very real and believable but at the same time seems so amazing and unreal at the same time.
Of course the plot helps with the sense of bizarre and uncanny. At the core of the story is a mystery, but how that mystery plays out and how it contorts the reality of the heroine, is a very entertaining journey to watch play out.
Con-
On the art, I would say it does have a old school look to it. It looks like it would be right at home with old issues of Heavy Metal, Creepy and Eerie. That sounds like a compliment and it is, but considering a lot of current comic book readers are raised on the more slick production values and the manga aesthetic, it could be a turn off for some.
Also the cover for this book is pretty terrible. Maybe it could work well in black and white, but the color job ruins any effect the art underneath would’ve had.
And for the plot the only real issue I had was the mention of pot use. I personally don’t care for it, and I’m one to overlook such things for a fictional story, but honestly it kept coming up so often it almost felt like there was some sort of Pro-Marijuana them to the story. Found it a bit distracting to the over all story
