Theophile is a young man living in France during the early 1800's. He's also recently escaped from an asylum and seems to feel that his thoughts are not always his own, that anothers hand is sometimes guiding his actions, and that he's been followed for unknown reasons. With nowhere to go and not really sure of what's going on, he does the only natural thing, he heads home, and in doing so.. heads straight towards the answers he seeks.
That is the setup for The Drowned, an 80 page graphic novel created by Jim and Laini Taylor Di Bartolo. No, I've never heard of them before either. The fact of the matter is, the book was half off and I heard some good things about it, so I figured, what the hey!
Possible Spoilers
It's not too bad, I wasn't exactly blown away by it or anything, but it was an ok read with some really lovely art. The art, by Jim Di Bartolo, really reminded me of the Starman issue penciled by Gene Ha. It wasn't just the detailed pencils that did it either, it's the use of.. I don't know what the hell it's called. I don't think greytones are the right word for it, but I don't think coloring is either. There's a really lovely fluid look to the placement and use of various shades of grey that vaguely look like watercolors, but I'm pretty sure it's not that either. Regardless of what it is, it worked and it looks quite nice. It also does a good job at conveying a rather dismal and creepy atmsophere that compliments the story wonderfully..
As for the the story itself, it's not too shabby either. As I mentioned before, we follow Theophile as he escapes from a French asylum and returns to home town. Things get weird as witch drownings, cities beneath the sea and more come into play. Unfortunately it doesn't really stop there.. You see, there are two major stories running through this book.
The first involves a church fire, the death of his sister, and the reason for his apparent mental problems. This is a pretty strong story and most of the book is dedicated to it. We watch as Theophile slowly begins to uncover the truth behind his sisters death, and just how that affected him and his town. Laini does a great job here, creating a wonderful horror period piece, even if she does get a bit wordy here and there.
The second story is really a subplot that lurks around in the background and only tangently ties into the first one.. sadly it's this second story that ends up being the actual end of the book. It involves the Templars, Satan and.. well.. that's it. It's actually fairly superhero-y in it's nature, and I really felt that it detracted from the ending.
It's one thing to watch Theophile uncovering mysteries with supernatural forces at work, it's another thing to watch him trading punches with Satan. It just didn't click for me, and after the nice build and resolution to the main plot, it felt like a bit of a let down to end the book with a fight scene.. even if it was with the Devil.
Still, it's not a bad first outing, even with the odd ending. The art and main plot hold up really well and compliement each other nicely. It's just that damn ending... blech.
I think there's going to be a follow up, I'm not sure though, but the book did have "1" on the spine, and the ending does leave it set up for further stories with Theophile. Hopefully they'll be a bit closer to the main story rather than the second, but that's me.
Links of interest:
The Drowned: Official Site
That is the setup for The Drowned, an 80 page graphic novel created by Jim and Laini Taylor Di Bartolo. No, I've never heard of them before either. The fact of the matter is, the book was half off and I heard some good things about it, so I figured, what the hey!
Possible Spoilers
It's not too bad, I wasn't exactly blown away by it or anything, but it was an ok read with some really lovely art. The art, by Jim Di Bartolo, really reminded me of the Starman issue penciled by Gene Ha. It wasn't just the detailed pencils that did it either, it's the use of.. I don't know what the hell it's called. I don't think greytones are the right word for it, but I don't think coloring is either. There's a really lovely fluid look to the placement and use of various shades of grey that vaguely look like watercolors, but I'm pretty sure it's not that either. Regardless of what it is, it worked and it looks quite nice. It also does a good job at conveying a rather dismal and creepy atmsophere that compliments the story wonderfully..
As for the the story itself, it's not too shabby either. As I mentioned before, we follow Theophile as he escapes from a French asylum and returns to home town. Things get weird as witch drownings, cities beneath the sea and more come into play. Unfortunately it doesn't really stop there.. You see, there are two major stories running through this book.
The first involves a church fire, the death of his sister, and the reason for his apparent mental problems. This is a pretty strong story and most of the book is dedicated to it. We watch as Theophile slowly begins to uncover the truth behind his sisters death, and just how that affected him and his town. Laini does a great job here, creating a wonderful horror period piece, even if she does get a bit wordy here and there.
The second story is really a subplot that lurks around in the background and only tangently ties into the first one.. sadly it's this second story that ends up being the actual end of the book. It involves the Templars, Satan and.. well.. that's it. It's actually fairly superhero-y in it's nature, and I really felt that it detracted from the ending.
It's one thing to watch Theophile uncovering mysteries with supernatural forces at work, it's another thing to watch him trading punches with Satan. It just didn't click for me, and after the nice build and resolution to the main plot, it felt like a bit of a let down to end the book with a fight scene.. even if it was with the Devil.
Still, it's not a bad first outing, even with the odd ending. The art and main plot hold up really well and compliement each other nicely. It's just that damn ending... blech.
I think there's going to be a follow up, I'm not sure though, but the book did have "1" on the spine, and the ending does leave it set up for further stories with Theophile. Hopefully they'll be a bit closer to the main story rather than the second, but that's me.
Links of interest:
The Drowned: Official Site
