Title: The AutumnalAuthor: Chris Shehan, Daniel Kraus, Jason Wordie, Jim Campbell
First Published: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Vault Comics
Pages: 232
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Rating:
Synopsis:
Her estranged mother's death brings Kat Somerville back to Comfort Notch, New Hampshire, a home town she can barely remember. As she and her daughter Sybil try to settle into a new life, Kat discovers that sometimes home is best forgotten.
WELCOME TO COMFORT NOTCH! HOME OF AMERICA'S PRETTIEST AUTUMN. YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO LEAVE.
Review
The Autumnal is a wild card of a graphic novel. It was an easy graphic novel to finish in a single sitting, it was genuinely creepy a few times and I was never bored at any point and I had a hard time putting it down, yet, I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.
The Autumnal tells the story of a single mother named Kat that finds herself moving back to her hometown after receiving a surprise inheritance. I liked Kat and could relate to her struggle as a single mother down on her luck. I could relate to Kat a lot and appreciated that the difficulty of single motherhood was explored. Even better was that Kat as a character had more to her than merely being a mother which was a nice change of pace for a story about motherhood.
The same unfortunately could not be said about Kat’s daughter, Sybil, and I think that was the real crux of my issue with this graphic novel. The story might have been more effective if I cared at all about Sybil. Her character was a generic hyper child commonly seen in western media without any personality features that make her an engaging character. I only cared about Sybil because Kat cares about Sybil, which makes the emotional investment into this character a weak one. It is a damn shame too because there were a few great characters in the story, so why the same time was not invested in Sybil baffles me.
Despite that, I was absolutely in love with the setting! Autumn is my favorite season and the brilliant illustrations of the trees were wonderful to look at, the art is what attracted me to the graphic novel in the first place. Beyond that this was a pretty standard folk horror story complete with an uncomfortably pleasant small town. There was only one scene that I really didn’t care for near the end, regarding Kat’s doubts, that I felt weren’t fitting for her character and felt like it was a perfunctory inclusion for the sake of “character development.” Not much new ground is tread here but I enjoyed the ending, even got a chuckle out of it. Overall a strong effort that could have been magnificent if Sybil had been written better.
Quote
“You stupid woman! You know nothing! Nothing about protecting a child!”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Authors
About Chris Shehan
Chris Shehan is a comic artist living in Texas with his girlfriend Karla and his dog Jack. His work includes The Autumnal (Vault Comics) with author Daniel Kraus.
About Daniel Kraus
Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling author. His collaboration with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, The Living Dead, was acclaimed by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored The Shape of Water, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored Trollhunters, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. Kraus’s The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year. Kraus has won a Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards (for both Rotters and Scowler), is a four-time Bram Stoker Award finalist, and has appeared multiple times as Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, and more.
Kraus’s work has been translated into over 20 languages. He lives with his wife in Chicago.
About Jason Wordie
Comic colorist for Image, DC, Boom!, Darkhorse, Madcave, Vault and IDW.
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