Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Tortured Life and Twisted Dark, Vol 1

*Book source ~ NetGalley
Title ~ Tortured Life
Series ~
Publisher ~ T Pub
Published ~ 24 September 2015
Genre ~ Graphic Novel | Horror
Pages ~ 164

My Rating ~ 4 bites

From Goodreads:
Richard is having a bad year. He’s lost his job, lost his girlfriend, put on weight… and developed the ability to see the deaths of everyone around him. Plagued by horrific premonitions, he decides to end it all, but there are old and powerful forces at work that have their own plans for his power. Pitched into a world of eldritch horror that lurks just beneath the surface of London’s civilized veneer, the only chance Richard has of finding peace is to unravel the mysteries of his own past. He’s having a really, really bad year.

This graphic novel is visually appealing. Well, for me, the gory parts aren’t so much, but you know what I mean. Horror isn’t my main genre. It’s not even in the top five, but I like the artwork. What? I’m no art aficionado. I don’t wax poetic about shit.  I like stuff or I don’t. Horror fans will probably swoon over it though.

The story is an interesting one. Poor Richard has suddenly developed the ability to see how everyone dies. It’s practically driven him ‘round the bend. His life is shot to hell. He’s tried to end it all, but hasn’t. Then Alice comes to him. But so does the Bloodyman. Next thing Richard knows his life has spiraled even further out of control, but at least he finally gets some answers. The door closes on this story. I’m told it’s meant to be a standalone and it is. However, there is a possibility of a sequel in the works. In the words of Spock…Fascinating.



*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Author ~ Neil Gibson
Illustrators ~ Caspar Wijngaard
Ant Mercer
Atula Siriwardane 
Heru Prasetyo Jalal
Dan West
Publisher ~ T Pub
Published ~ 25 June 2014
Genre ~ Graphic Novel | Horror | Anthology
Pages ~ 199

My Rating ~ 4 bites

From Goodreads:
Twisted Dark forms the first book in an upcoming. This, the first volume, is formed of 12 individual and unique stories comprising of nearly 200 hundred pages. The stories vary from 10 year old girls to Columbian drug lords and everything in between but the stories are all somehow connected some obviously so and some not. It is left to the reader to find the connections, with some connections impossible to see unless you have read multiple volumes. The books contains horror, dark, at times demented, stories incorporating every human emotion, illegal activity, and brutal reality. Using various illustrators allows each story and character to develop their own form the reader is left desperate to turn the pages. The book has been embraced by the comic book world receiving critical acclaim and a cult underground following.

Twisted Dark ~ Definitions

Suicide ~ Pouring out feelings online. {4 bites}

Routine ~ A man and his son living in a cabin in the woods. {4 bites}

A Lighter Note ~ A poor man aspires to rise above his beginnings with hard work. {4 bites}

Windopayne ~ A mysterious, rich and eligible man invents a revolutionary window. {4 bites}

The Game ~ A man in a mental institution. Crazy? Is he or isn’t he? {4 bites}

Blame ~ Assigning blame. Or not. {4 bites}

Heavenly Note ~ The poor man from A Lighter Note is back. {4 bites}

Cocaína ~ One sentence, so many meanings. {5 bites}

The Pushman ~ This is an actual job?! {3 bites}

Münchausen’s Little Proxy ~ Doing something to yourself is one thing, doing it to someone else is a whole different kettle of fish. {4 bites}

The Last Laugh ~ What? WHAT?! {4 bites}


Each story has a dark twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting. Talk about a jolt straight to the system. Eeek! The illustrations fit the story matter. Done all in black & white they are dark yet that doesn’t detract from the artwork which I enjoyed. Even though horror is way down on my long list of genres I love to read, I would definitely continue with this series.

No comments:

Post a Comment