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BD Pick Of The Week: Ghost Projekt Issue #1

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It seems like we have been talking about this one for a long time now, but this Wednesday the wait will be over and readers all over the country can see for themselves why critics are raving about Joe Harris’ (‘THE TRIPPER’, ‘DARKNESS FALLS’) newest original comic book titled ‘GHOST PROJEKT’. Go back and read my 2 part interview with Joe where he talks in depth about creating the series, and then read on for the preview and why you should care.

WRITTEN BY: Joe Harris
ILLUSTRATED BY: Steve Rolston

Russia is often remembered from the shadow cast during the Cold War-era when every stranger was a spy, but now that the Cold War is long over, some things left behind from that era may not stay lost. An abandoned Soviet research facility somewhere in Siberia has been home to a strange and dangerous weapon that is now in the hands of thieves claiming it for their own. U.S. weapons inspector Will Haley has been assigned to find out what dangers the weapon poses and with the help of Russian agent Anya Romanova they will find the answers, but it will be far from easy.







WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

A lot has been said about Joe Harris’ newest limited series from Oni-Press over the past couple of months by many including us here at the site. It isn’t just because Joe paid us A LOT to say so either. Kidding aside though, the reason this little gem has gotten so much attention and heavy praise is because it is just that good. In a time when most stories feel like a bit of an abortion of ideas, where characters are ‘kinda sorta’ fleshed out, and the minor details of a story are considered little more than an after thought Joe Harris has done what most fail to do nowadays and that is to create a world of characters and details that all seem to have been given equal attention.

If you’ve read Joe’s 2 part interview with me (and if you haven’t I hate you! Nah, I’m just kidding, but you should really go do that.) you will know just how much research and detail he and his creative team did in order to create the story surrounding the characters much less writing the characters themselves. It is rare to read an original series and feel like you are in that universe yourself as you are reading through it, but perhaps that also has to do with the historical accuracy of many of the things going on within the story itself.

No bones about it: if ‘GHOST PROJEKT’ doesn’t land Joe Harris’ an Eisner then there has to be some absolutely jaw-dropping stuff coming out this year. (That or someone was drinking heavily while they were tabulating the votes) Get out there and buy this book, it’s as simple as that.

‘GHOST PROJEKT’ Issue #1 Drops This Wednesday From Oni-Press! (MSRP-$3.99)

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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