Comics - The Book Witch

Comic Book Review: The Hunger and the Dusk

The Hunger and the Dusk, written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Chris Wildgoose, is a high fantasy comic series tinted with horror. I’ve been reading this one monthly since its debut in July 2023, and it’s been a highlight of my pull list. Clearly, this review is long overdue!

Volume one collects the first six issues, and there’s a lot of ground to cover! The first story arc ended on a cliffhanger, but thankfully the first issue of book two came out last month. I’m not going to cover that in this review, but I’m sure I’ll be yelling about the series as issues come out over on Threads.

This post contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that financially supports independent bookstores.

The Hunger and the Dusk: A Spoiler-Free Overview

Issues 1 and 2 of The Hunger and The Dusk laying on a square piece of paper that looks like pink marble.

When vicious, mysterious raiders known as the Vangol return to the dying world they left behind hundreds of years ago, humans and orcs must form an alliance to fight the invaders before it’s too late for both races. Overcoming centuries of fighting and racism is no small task, though. A tenuous treaty is all that keeps orcs and humans from slaughtering each other over increasingly small amounts of fertile land.

As part of the treaty, the orcs send one of their best healers, Gruakhtar Icemane—Tara to her friends—to travel with the mercenary group Last Men Standing. Led by Cal Battlechild, the Last Men set off to face the Vangol with their new member.

Tara and Cal form an uneasy, tentative friendship. When a surprise Vangol attack leaves one of the Last Men dead, both Tara and Cal blame themselves. They begin to open up to each other, hinting at a possible future romance.

But the Last Men don’t have long before they catch a Vangol scout scoping out their camp. The discovery of the scout sets off a chain of events that test Tara and Cal’s burgeoning relationship, along with the entire treaty.

All the while, the Vangol creep further inland, threatening annihilation of humans and orcs alike. . .

If Only Things Were Simple

Issues 3 and 4 of The Hunger and The Dusk laying on a square piece of paper that looks like pink marble.

The Hunger and the Dusk primarily follows Tara’s point of view, with some scenes following her cousin Troth. (Tara and Troth were supposed to marry until he unexpectedly became overlord of the Icemane clan). Stories with orc points of view are becoming more common, and while a greater discussion of the rehabilitation/reclamation of the orc image is beyond the scope of this review, I greatly enjoy the way Wilson and Wildgoose handle it.

While we do have scenes of the humans of Last Men Standing starting to deal with their own implicit biases (the bard realizes he has to write all new songs because all the ones he knows trash talk the orcs), the story sticks pretty close to Tara’s and Troth’s points of views.

These orcs are not vicious, mindless violence machines as they are often portrayed in high fantasy. Tara, in fact, is quite the opposite with her powerful healing ability. Her cousin Troth is portrayed as a wise, strong leader who is forced to make personal sacrifices for the good of his people. Troth’s new bride, Faran, is whip-smart and invested in peace between humans and orcs.

Some of the best scenes in the book show Troth and Faran getting to know each other. Their interactions are tender and real, even though their marriage begins as a political one. (I also appreciate that we see Faran initiating sex—Troth clearly respects her boundaries.)

The Vangol

Issues 5 and 6 of The Hunger and The Dusk laying on a square piece of paper that looks like pink marble.

I’d be remiss to write a review of The Hunger and the Dusk without dedicating some time to the villains. The Vangol are quick, sneaky, and deadly. The first scene in issue one establishes that everyone is terrified of them.

Gaunt and pale with elongated torsos and limbs, the Vangol remind me somewhat of the vampires from 30 Days of Night. They carry the same sense of quick-moving, unavoidable dread. Indeed, the book’s title derives from the Vangol’s tendency to attack at dusk.

The first six issues of the comic give us more questions than answers when it comes to these ghoul-like people. All we know is that at some point in the distant past, they lived on the same continent as humans, orcs, dwarves, and elves. The Vangol left, and the dwarves and elves died out (thought not necessarily in that order). No one knows why they’ve returned, but it seems it may have something to do with the land slowly dying.

The sense of mystery surrounding the Vangol, along with their uncanny appearance and demonstrated viciousness, makes them a compelling antagonist. They are an existential threat to both groups in the truest sense of the word. If humans and orcs fail to stop the Vangol, they will join the dwarves and elves in extinction.

The Hunger and the Dusk One-Sentence Review

The Hunger and the Dusk offers a fresh take on familiar fantasy tropes with high stakes and compelling, complex characters who are forced again and again to make uncomfortable choices between their own desires and saving the world.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy my review of Inkblot by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd. I’d love to hear about what you’re reading currently on Instagram, Threads, or Bluesky!

Review: Shirtless Bear Fighter is the most delightfully ridiculous comic ever

A few years ago, in the pre-pandemic times, I was watching hockey at a friend’s house when one of the books in his comic stack caught my eye: Shirtless Bear-Fighter! by Jody Lehup, Sebastian Girner, Nill Vendrell, and Mike Spicer.

The cover depicts a shirtless man in raggedy pants with exaggerated masculine features (seriously, his feet are huge, and so is his beard). I paged through and saw that this was, yes indeed, a comic about a man who fights bears while decidedly not wearing any clothes (his junk is pixelated, though, so no need to worry about your puny senses being overwhelmed by his manliness). What an odd delight!

I’ve been feeling kinda down lately and wanted a pick-me-up, so: Enter, once again, Shirtless Bear-Fighter!. This book is a little difficult to review because it’s, well… You’ll see what I mean. My reviews do contain affiliate links to Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores.

The Book Witch’s One Sentence Review

Shirtless Bear-Fighter is an absolutely hilarious, utterly delightful comic that skewers masculine tropes by rocketing them past the point of no return and stripping them of all power through the healing nature of comedy.

The Story of Shirtless

Shirtless Bear-Fighter tells the story of a man named Shirtless, who was raised by bears in a lush mountain forest. The bears betrayed him when they killed his lover, and after that he vowed to fight every bear.

Now, enraged bears are attacking major cities across the US, and the FBI calls in Shirtless to handle the problem. In the process he discovers that past events weren’t what they seemed and uncovers a plot by a greedy toilet-paper-company logger to turn the whole forest into TP.

Along the way Shirtless has to deal with multiple betrayals, bears high on magic bacon, and the fact that he probably definitely has a thing for Silva, the female FBI agent.

The creative team (Jody Leheup, Sebastian Girner, Nil Vendrell, and Mike Spicer) do not take anything seriously. Shirtless is a hyperbole of our culture’s idea of what men should be, and that’s exactly what gets him into trouble.

The issue of Shirtless’s dead lover reveals the cavalier way men treat women and highlights exactly why that is terrible and we should maybe stop doing that right now. Silva is not hyper-sexualized and proves herself to be smart and resourceful. Without her, Shirtless would fail his mission to save the forest.

So, here’s a comic that takes the most exaggerated masculine tropes and handles them in a subtle, brilliant, hilarious way. And even better, it will make you laugh out loud over and over again.

Key Shirtless Bear-Fighter Takeaways

WHAT IS THIS COMIC I DON’T EVEN KNOW
BUT IT’S REALLY FUCKING FUNNY
“Bear” is not limited to the large omnivorous mammal
There are a lot of toilet paper and poop jokes (WHICH ARE HILARIOUS)
The whole thing can be read as a fable about environmentalism and toxic masculinity
ALSO IT’S REALLY FUCKING FUNNY
Magic bacon.

What books or comics do you turn to when you need a pick me up? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram or Twitter @bookwitchblog!

Comic Review: Inkblot by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd

This week’s review covers the first collected volume of the comic Inkblot, by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd, published by Image Comics. This post contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores.

Inkblot Volume 1 collects the first six issues of this ongoing series about a librarian sorceress and the magical cat she accidentally conjures.

The six issues of Inkblot that are collected into Inkblot vol. 1.

The Book Witch’s One Sentence Review

A funny, whimsical fantasy that takes readers on a journey through space and time with a curious, magical black cat at the helm.

Inkblot by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd

It all begins as the librarian sorceress, known only as The Seeker or Bookworm, is recording the exploits of her extremely powerful sorcerer siblings. She falls asleep while she’s working and knocks over a number of bottles of ink and other things. After the dust settles, as it were, a little black cat with big round green eyes appears.

A panel from Inkblot showing The Seeker conjuring the Cat.

The Seeker quickly learns that this cat can open inter-dimensional portals when she chases the cat into the Mountain Lands and they almost get eaten by giants. While the kitty in question has no official name or gender, I’m going to refer to them as Inkblot since it’s also the name of the comic.

Although the cat is magical, their only utterance is “mow,” issued with varying inflections and degrees of emphasis. As the story progresses, The Seeker chases Inkblot in several unsuccessful attempts to catch and study them.

The first few issues remain fairly lighthearted as the cat causes mischief by climbing dragons and riding the Loch Ness monster, and we meet a few of The Seeker’s siblings and the Realms they rule.

Toward the end, things take a turn for the serious as we learn more about The Seeker’s past and her youngest brother, Inos. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I am very much looking forward to seeing how the story progresses in future volumes.

The Art of Inkblot

Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd’s process for creating Inkblot is not the typical writer/artist dynamic. Rather, Kubert draws everything out, Gladd inks it, Kubert colors it, and then Gladd adds dialogue and captions. I like how their creative process echoes the back and forth between The Seeker and Inkblot the cat.

The art is whimsical, but also features bold lines. The color palette is somewhat restrained but not boring—it works well for the mystical fantasy setting. Kubert and Gladd excel at creating exaggerated facial expressions that work well for the comical tone without crossing over into the land of hyperbole or satire.

Inkblot’s only discernible facial features are their big green eyes, but they also use their ears to communicate how they’re feeling to great effect.

The black cat was what drew me to this comic in the first place: I adopted a black cat in November 2019. And just like Inkblot, if she’s not in the exact right lighting, the only facial feature you can make out is her big yellow eyes.

Not Your Typical Black Cat

The black-cat-as-witch’s-familiar trope has been explored and then explored some more, and I love the concept of the black-cat-as-witch’s-foil that turns many of the original trope’s conventions on their head.

The inside front cover of Inkblot features a silhouette of the cat behind the credits. The back cover of each issue features an inkblot with eyes.

Rather than working together for a common goal, Inkblot and The Seeker are always at odds. Inkblot is a quintessential cat: They go where they want, when they want, and they do what they want regardless of what’s going on around them. Inkblot’s antics had me laughing out loud in delight more than once.

The Seeker tries to catch Inkblot, but Inkblot always eludes her grasp. This game of cat-and-sorceress also provides an excellent overview of the world of the comic, as Inkblot travels to different realms and time periods in history.

Inkblot Volume 1 serves as an excellent introduction to the series. It has humor, heart, solid world-building, interesting characters, and beautiful, eye-catching art. The story takes a few issues/chapters to take shape, but with a cat leading the way, who can complain? The meandering pace works well for the characters and story, and invites the reader to sit and stay for a while.

For more great comics featuring felines, check out my “Comics and Graphic Novels Featuring Cats” booklist over at Bookshop.org! Have you read Inkblot? What did you think? Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter @bookwitchblog!

Review: The Sandman Audio Adaptation

This week’s review tackles the audio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman! This post contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores.

The Absolute Sandman volume 1 on a starry background, with an eReader playing the Sandman audio book on top of it.

The Book Witch’s One Sentence Review

Audible’s audio adaption of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is a brilliantly acted immersive take on the classic comic series that will please longtime fans and help bring this amazing story to a whole new audience.

The Sandman Audio Adaptation Review

How do you create an audio drama from a graphic novel?

Dirk Maggs makes it look pitifully easy in his full-cast audio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman that more than does justice to the original comic.

As a long-time fan of Gaiman’s groundbreaking series, I was a tad apprehensive about how good an audiobook adaptation would be. Not because I’m a format purist or don’t like audio, but because I’ve been burned too many times by bad, cash-grabby comic book adaptations.

Sandman is important to me, and I was afraid the audiobook would be bad.

I needn’t have worried. While the audiobook version of Sandman is, of course, different in a number of ways from the comic, it stays true to the story while adding something new at the same time. The brilliant voice acting adds tone and depth to each character, and the added narration (performed by Neil Gaiman himself), fills in most of the gaps caused by the lack of visual material.

A page from the Doll's House on a starry background with paper stars.

It’s the same story, same impact, just in a different format. I, for one, am thrilled that one of my all-time favorite books is now available to more folks.

Those who’ve read and enjoyed the comic will appreciate the nuance this new telling adds to the story, while those who’ve never read the comic are in for an auditory and narrative treat.

This Adaptation Has Beautiful Voice Acting and Excellent Production

James McAvoy’s Morpheus is brooding and dark against Kat Denning’s chipper Death, while Justin Vivian Bond’s Desire is perfectly petulant and petty. I didn’t love Andy Serkis as Matthew the raven at first, but he grew on me and I’m curious to see how he’ll handle certain pivotal scenes in later books.

In short, the voice cast is spot on, and everyone nails their characters. It was insanely easy to close my eyes and feel like I was in the Dreaming.

This first volume of the audio drama (parts 2 and 3 have already been greenlit by Audible) covers the first three trade collections of the comic: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll’s House, and Dream Country. It maintains the original “chapter” breaks of the individual issues, and these are announced verbally, echoing the print reading experience.

An interior shot of the last page of Sandman issue 8, on a starry background with paper origami stars.

I was particularly curious how they would handle A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a storyline at the end of Dream Country in which Morpheus brings the fae to England to watch a play he commissioned from a young William Shakespeare. It’s one of the most visually complex issues of the comic, and relies heavily on paneling and framing to tell a story-within-the-story. It also has a rather large cast of characters: Shakespeare, his son, his players, Titania, Oberon, Puck, and a whole menagerie of fae who serve as the peanut gallery throughout the issue.

For the audio, they use sound layering and background/foreground speaking to give the same impression and experience, and it worked really well. Again, Gaiman’s narration also helps here, but I thought Maggs did an excellent job recreating the complex visual effects in this format.

Itty Bitty Nitpicks

The only places I thought the audio drama failed to live up to the comic were a few scenes with The Corinthian. I loved Riz Ahmed’s portrayal of this eye-eating nightmare, but the narration on a few of his scenes left me with less than a full picture of what was happening with his victims. I also don’t think the horror of seeing mouths for eyes the first time Corninthian takes off his glasses translates quite as well to audio, but again, this is a minor complaint.

Unfortunately, The Sandman audio drama is an Audible exclusive, but you can purchase an MP3 CD through Bookshop. Generally speaking, I don’t like purchasing books through Amazon, and the same goes for audio.

Amazon isn’t going away anytime soon, though, so I’ve had to make a sort of peace with it, especially in cases like this where there’s no other option. Still, I encourage audiobook readers to check out Libro.fm, an alternative that directly supports independent bookstores!

And if you’d like to purchase any of The Sandman graphic novels, you can always do so through your favorite indie bookstore or Bookshop.org! I’ve compiled a handy list of the series and its main offshoots over at my Bookshop storefront.