My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol 1 Graphic Novel Review

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol 1Erica Gives This Comic Four StarsMy Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is a unique and beautiful book. The art is so detailed. The crosshatching so perfect in displaying emotion. The sparse use of color adds so much atmosphere. The school notebook background used to “draw” the scenes (drawn by our protagonist Karen) is incredibly clever.

Additionally, Ferris went through a great personal trauma and illness as she wrote and drew this book. It is incredible to have “learned to draw again by duct-taping a quill pen to her hand.” And then the first printing of this book was “lost at sea” when its shipping company went under and creditors held the books as part of the collateral.

So why the four stars on an amazing book? At times, the art lost the story and vice versa. At times, the plot meandered. It’s centered on a murder mystery, and it’s well-documented that I enjoy books that don’t immediately give it all away. (This is something I love about both Monstress and Pretty Deadly.) However, I found myself rereading pages because I read text out of order far too often. This is always a risk when an artist gets creative.

I also found the first part of the book slow moving. By the time I got to the second half, I couldn’t put it down. I have pretty high hopes for the next volume.

One thing I greatly loved about the entire story was how Karen saw herself as a werewolf. The beginning starts off with her in a panicked, fever dream about being attacked by villagers, when she’s actually just a nice, misunderstood werewolf. Continue reading “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol 1 Graphic Novel Review”