Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Chair - Graphic Novel

I'll admit that I own no graphic novels other than the spawn compilations, so when they sent me a copy of "The Chair" to review, I was rather excited. The cover is well drawn, although the printing on my copy seems to be shifted to the left, cutting the last letter of each of the authors/illustrators names half off. A quick flip through reveals that the entire book is in black and white, nice touch.

Now our story follows a man on death row, surrounded by the criminally insane of the worst types, awaiting his final trip down the hallway. Quickly we determine that the prison is not all that it seems, the body count is too high with out anyone making a trip to the room containing the chair. Reality twists and churns as our perceptions of what is really happening bubbles in the foam.

The concept of this novel is excellent... unfortunately the execution leaves something to be desired. The background artwork is fantastic, unfortunately the artwork of the people in the story is weak, they are improperly proportioned and sadly all look too similar to distinguish anyone other than our main character... and that's only because he has a beard and is almost always sitting. Another negative is the Dialogue, which is cryptic and bland. Sure the reader gets the gist of what is going on, but having more fluid and specific dialogue would have greatly added to the reader's enjoyment. Though this is not the worst graphic novel I have read, it certainly does not rank among the best.

Kiddie rating for this book is PG 13 possibly R for profanity, violence and adult subject matter along the lines of child murder/rape/serial killers.

Originally reviewed for www.monsterlibrarian.com

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