Number 3 - Wraith - Joe Hill & Charles Paul Wilson III

 

Now this was a lot of fun.  A graphic novel prequel to one of Joe Hill's prose novels.  There's a clue on the cover which one - that car number plate will ring a bell to most Joe Hill readers.

This tells the story of the creation of Christmasland and follows up with the misadventures of an unlucky group of people forced to visit.

A prison bus crashes and the three prisoners and two wardens are collected by Charlie Manx and taken to his kingdom.  One of the prisoners has links to Manx, knows he can help people to disappear, but doesn't know quite how it's achieved. When he calls Charlie for help, everyone on the bus regrets the decision sooner rather than later.

The story is brilliantly creepy. The characters are well drawn (in all definitions of the phrase) whether they're likeable or not.  We have two characters deserving of sympathy and several others we should rightly be scared of.  Who if any of them will survive? 

There's a demonic feel to the artwork which perfectly suits the subject matter.  Charlie Manx might  not be exactly what I imagined reading NOS4A2 but he's superbly realised here.  The devil children are pretty bloody scary creations.  The moon in Christmasland is one of the weirdest and most disturbing things I've seen in a graphic novel.   

From a visual point of view, the only disappointment is the double page spread with the maze, which, because this volume is very thick, we lose all the detail in the center of the picture.  Obviously this wouldn't have been a problem when the comic was released as a comic.

The script is right up there with the best that Hill has produced. 

This is a hellish difficult book to find at a reasonable price.  I got very lucky after months of searching to find it on eBay for cover price plus postage and I leaped at the chance (and that was still pricey - but this is a gorgeous looking hardback edition with nearly 200 pages of beautifully reproduced artwork and a damned good story). It might even be worth it to a Hill completist to shell out the big bucks for it. It's pretty much out of print, and the people who have copies seem to not want to let them go - and that should tell you something about the quality.

Best thing I've read so far this year. I admit that that would mean more if it wasn't just two weeks in and book number 3, but I suspect this could be a highlight of the year regardless.

So great book - good luck getting a physical copy. People who read on kindles might find it easier.