Hugo Boylan – the twisted mind behind Malevolence – sent me on a review copy of his new book with Rapha Lobosco, Black, White & Grey. As with all my reviews, I have a tendency to focus on the positive – especially true when I know the creator. Consider this a ‘Why you should buy this comic’ post (because I know this is one I’d love to have a physical copy of!)
Black Lines, Grey Morals
Hugo Boylan is, in my mind, a horror writer. The first book of his that I read was a horror, so the genre sticks in my head. This new book contains five stories: Dreamweaver, Day Job, Murphy’s Day, Heavy Black, and Black Neptune. It’s hard to tell which one disturbs me most. Conceptually, they’re all different. As stories, they’re paced differently, and rely on different scare tactics. The twists, the intrigues, the Big Bads, they vary between each story. And while it’s true to say that Boylan writes horror, and that each story contains elements of horror, there’s a greater depth of genre available in this book, when one looks at the stories separately.
Heavy Black is certainly closer to science fiction in terms of its content, while Murphy’s Day relies on the expectation of an incident to keep the reader guessing, set in an otherwise contemporary world. The final story in the book, Black Neptune, is extracted from a larger story, but contains enough of the tale to raise the question that a good story ought to: just what is going on?
To complement Boylan’s writing, Rapha Lobosco fills in the pages with – you might guess from the book’s title – a blend of black, white and grey artwork. Artistically, it can appear as a choice between colouring the art, or telling a story in black and white line-work. Conceptually, especially in a collection, the use of black, white and grey creates different atmospheres for the stories. Those told in black-and-white only are the stories that rely on twists and contrasts; what appear to be simple stories take sharp turns in the opposite direction.
When grey is introduced, we’re given two different uses of the colour; Heavy Black makes use of grey to emphasise the darkness of space (the story taking place on-board a craft in space), whereas Murphy’s Day uses grey as a means of dropping us in the middle of the story wondering where we might be taken – there is no clear-cut jump, only a wait for the shift in the story, something we have to drift through, like searching in murky water for a prized jewel. (Analogy spoiler alert: we find the jewel.)
Added to the stories are an original script – which is a nice addition from Boylan – for Dreamweaver, and concept art from Lobosco – always something I like to see at the end of a book. With a dark and dreary design pulled together by the book’s letterer, Kerrie Smith, we’ve given an impressive collection of stories from two of the finest up-and-coming comic creators in Ireland.
Black, White & Grey launches at Thought Bubble 2016 (that’s this coming weekend, folks). It’s a clever collection of intriguing stories, definitely one for fans of horror, and receives an all-round recommendation from me. You can check out Heavy Black on Taptastic in its entirety if you want a taste of what the collection is like.
Comix Ireland 