Call number: YF BAC
Publisher: Wildstorm Productions
Year: 2001
Reviewed by Paul Brown
"Power... power is Hot Sex on a Stick".
Smart graphic novel adherents need only apply. In an alternative historical London, a malevolent, gothic Lord seeks domination of the world and Heaven, against whom a reluctant 'manimatron' (Cole Blaquesmith) battles. This is wonderful stuff for adherents of gothic-industrial-apocalyptic mayhem: underdwellers are butchered for their souls and the amusement of the privileged class; citizens fashionably re-engineer themselves with mechanical parts at the 'Sirloin Salon'; and all the while, the malevolent Lord Absinthe proffers wonderful witticisms while violently suppressing rebellion.
The pages are clogged with highly detailed illustrations and fast crackling dialogue. The offerings of such characters as Faust, Victoria (Queen of Slaves) and Sir Robert Peel are ingenious as is the personification of the drug 'absinthe' as a harbinger of doom. However, intricate layout and plot complexity do not lend themselves to this book being a fast read; it is however a rewarding one for those with the patience to enjoy a demanding graphical arrangement and storyboard.
Similar books/authors:
Steampunk: drama obscura (graphic novel) by Chris Bachalo
Steampunk edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer