Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Graphic Novel Review: Dear Creature

Dear Creature is a graphic novel by Jonathan Case and was recently published by Tor Books. I would have to say I strongly recommend it.

Like a strange mix between the work of Jeff Smith (BONE, RASL) and Grant Morrison (JOE THE BARBARIAN, WE3), it's the tale of a sea mutant who comes to love Shakespeare and a woman who's been placing the Bard's plays in soda bottles and setting them into the surf. Case's art style (he covers all the creative bases here) is both realistic (the human characters) and cartoonish (Grue, our fearless sea mutant, and his crab friends), without seeming disjointed in the least.

In fact, Grue's love of Shakespeare results in his speaking in iambic pentameter (there's a great bonus feature about this for those who might need a refresher), and in fact the story almost seems like something Will might have written in modern times. Of course, it's also a monster story, from the monster's perspective (shades of David Maine's brilliant novel MONSTER, 1959, concerning King Kong). This is not your typical graphic novel material, and that's half the charm.

Almost as if he was inspired as much by comic books as the recent spate of computer animated movies (the best of them, like Pixar without the outright commercial bent), Case seems to have sidestepped all the usual handicaps creators tend to bring to the table when they work in the comics medium but don't do superheroes. He doesn't do arcane, or slice-of-life, or quirk-for-the-sake-of-quirk. He's got a genuine piece of inspiration behind this project, and it's all the more refreshing to have it in graphic novel form, rather than in monthly installments, so you have all seven chapters at once.

Like I said, there's a strong BONE vibe here, without the cuddliness and the fantasy elements, just a clash of cultures, a romance, and a great story. Also, Case has a great sense of humor.

Probably one of the best things you'll read in 2011.

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