Tag Archives: caitlin kiernan

Review: Alabaster: The Good, the Bad and the Bird #1

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23973“Kiernan is the poet and the bard of the wasted and the lost.”—Neil Gaiman

A new evil haunts the sun-scorched back roads and ghost towns of the American South—murderous twins who command a legion of ghouls. Once again, Dancy Flammarion must face down demons: both those who walk the world unchallenged and those in her own shattered mind.

***Warning this comic isn’t appropriate for children***

Given the testimonial for Neil Gaiman, I expected Alabaster: The Good, the Bad and the Bird #1 would be weird. Well, I got what I expected and than some. The story, written by Cailtlin Kiernan, follows a dead monster and her trip the hell, or at least the writer’s idea of hell. Complete with odd flashbacks of her life, strange monstrous creatures, and even a very bizarre angel. In vast contrast to the seemingly never ending white space of hell, there are events that take place in the land of the living, following a “business man,” and two others.

The cover done by Greg Ruth is an oddly,captivating masterpiece that only underpins the complexity of the story that lies contained beneath it. Even the artwork contained inside done by Daniel Warren Johnson continues the odd mystery of the main character. In contrast to the extreme amount of white that is where her soul is contained, the world of living is much more colorful. That gives the world the silent breath of life, and causes it to feel almost real.

Story: Caitlin R Kiernan Art: Daniel Warren Johnson
Story: 8.5 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy (but wait for a few issues to be out)

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Alabaster: The Good, The Bad and the Bird #1

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Alabaster The Good, The Bad, and The Bird #1 1Supernatural stories have flooded the just about every entertainment medium and to some varying effects, especially the whole variation on good versus evil. The one thing that just about all of them have lost or maybe, never had at all is the “scare factor”. What makes them so devoid of this essential element in horror is that they usually travel down the same familiar roads and ultimately utilize the most common genre tropes. There are always the exceptions like The Strangers, Deliver Us from Evil, N0sfer@2and the Purge.

Comics is probably one of the few mediums that actually get horror right, with many interesting entries over the last few years. Cullen Bunn’s Harrow County, definitely has given a new meaning to unsettling, as every character and story from the series will definitely make your skin crawl. Alan Moore’s Providence, has definitely taken some familiar Lovecraft characters, brought them to a new level of craziness and spookiness. Now, Dark Horse, has unleashed Alabaster: The Good, The Bad and The Bird, which continues the adventures of Dancy Flammarion, who just so happens to specializes in hunting down those monsters that lurks in the shadows.

Alabaster: the Good, the Bad and the Bird takes place a few weeks after the events of the Grimmer Tales story arc, which actually claimed Dancy as a casualty. Although she is in the afterworld, that looks awfully like hell, it seems as though those very monsters, she died fighting, might compromise, her new world. Within the first issue, the story jumps back and forth at a rapid pace between Dancy and a deal between some crazy siblings and the bailiff. By issue’s end, Dancy, finds herself to be truly in hell and the crazy siblings, are even more unhinged than one would have guessed.

Overall, an interesting story, as the reader is definitely dropped into the aftermath of Grimmer Tales, which maybe a little raucous for the novice reader, who as not picked up the series until now, but definitely the reader is quickly caught up. The story by Caitlin Kiernan is engrossing and disturbing at the same time, reminding me so much of the Killing Joke. The art by Daniel Warren Johnson is abstract and iridescent, taking full advantage of the broad strokes that separates the twofold narratives that are in play. Altogether, an interesting story that although is spooky, will make the reader yearning to come back to see how this one unfolds.

Story: Caitlin Kiernan Art: Daniel Warren Johnson
Story:  9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review