Fatale. Book Five: Curse the Demon by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

The last book of Fatale franchise. A decent read, though, I guess, I got tired of it a bit already – like TV shows, the series fatigue finally catches up with you.

Still, when they make a movie, I will be the first to watch it.

 

 

 


The Amateurs by Conor Stechschulte

The Amateurs by Conor Stechschulte is a most strange brew – a story about amnesia, two amateur butchers, tons of mindless gore and dark humor – sick, in the end. A good quick book, though I wouldn't recommend it to many. But to those who like Thomas Ott, I would.

 

 

 


Dark Country by Thomas Ott

As usual with Thomas Ott, a couple of pictures is much better than a thousand words. Brrrrr, scary.

 


The Hidden by Richard Sala

My call – The Hidden is nowhere close to Peculia's absolute awesomeness. This Frankenstein-creates-the-end-of-the-world story is, as every Sala's book, beautifully drawn – and even beautifully colored – but the storyline is, ehem, so and so.

Oh well. Enjoy the bloodshed and the macabre!

 


Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires by Richard Sala

Equally delicious as the original Peculia book, this story is a great homage to old time b&w horror, as well as the 60-70s b-movies, the majestic Count Dracula, Scooby Doo and the rest of the vampire horror fun.

Fast to read and very enjoyable! Mmmm

 


Peculia by Richard Sala

Peculia, a black and white comic book by Richard Sala, is absolutely stunning. Barely one hundred pages, it contains less than a dozen short horror stories about a brave girl named Peculia, her perfect butler Ambrose, her adversary Justine and her secret admirer Obscrus – and many, many monsters. These tales are quite similar to my childhood horror stories – the crawling hands, big ugly creatures lurking in the dark, waiting to grab little kiddies and eat them.

This is like the best ironic comic book horror I've seen in a while – definitely better than the previous Sala's books I've tried.

Also, black and white with no coloring gives it a distinct, rather peculiar feel – which is only spoiled by colors. Mesmerizing. A tiny gem.

 

 


Violenzia by Richard Sala

Yet another macabre short story by Richard Sala, a true master of gothic horror, cults, and scary tales in unique vivid colors.

Funny to read this as a continuation of the Fatale, to see the same ceremonial sacrifices with crooked daggers etc – but with much more irony around it.

A great short, all in all – but only for those of you who are sick enough to enjoy it.

 


Fatale. Book Four: Pray for Rain by Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips

As much as I was dissatisfied with Fatale Books 2 & 3, I am equally pleased with Book Four: Pray for Rain (collects volumes 15 to 19). The change is drastic – as if Brubacker was completely out of ideas for his past several volumes, and had to fill them with crap in order to fulfill the publishers desires – and, suddenly, he found, I dunno, his own Fatale that gave his the inspiration back.

To my mind, this story arc is equal to a good, hard to take your eyes off the screen slasher movie, when you sit and enjoy the rollercoster. Nice.

And after that, an unfortunate pause. While volumes 20 & 21 are already available and in my iPad, Fatale the series will end in this July, when volume 24 hits the shelves – and I guess, I will have to wait for that – as I never liked reading small 30-page long volumes separately, as I don't really get to enjoy the storyline this way. Okey. Let's see what July brings.

 


Fatale. Book Two: The Devil’s Business and Book Three: West of Hell by Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips

The second book of Fatale (i.e. the story arc that contains volumes 6 to 10 of the comic series) was, sadly, quite inferior to the first. Still, I have to admit Brubaker and Phillips have a very unique style of their own, especially drawing wise.

Volumes 11 to 14 that followed were four short separate stories, not too full of value, I guess. I like the nazi one the most, if you ask me. They, as I later found out, were collected under the title Book Three: West of Hell.

Other than that, ummm, I would say, this is a huge comedown from the original first Fatale story arc. Sad.

 


The Grave Robber’s Daughter by Richard Sala

Richard Sala's short horror story in black and white, with archetypical killer clowns and kill-your-parents children of corn, flip-flip-flip.

If I were to compare, the thing is subpar to the ugly, mean and scary stuff of Thomas Ott which I like a lot. Well, who am I to compare.