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[Comic Review] “The Witcher: Fox Children” #3 Is A Masterful Addition To The Lore

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The Witcher: Fox Children continues with another strong entry in this mini-series. We’re over halfway now and judging by the quality of each issue this’ll end up being quite the worthwhile tale. Tobin maintains his formidable grasp on the world of The Witcher, having played an exorbitant amount of The Witcher 3 recently I can attest to this.

STK674020

 WRITTEN BY: Paul Tobin
ART BY: Joe Quiero
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: June 3, 2015

This story could easily fit into The Witcher 3 as a side quest, it feels totally in line with the world. You can practically hear Geralt’s gravely voice in all of his lines and his sage wisdom never fails to make you think. There’s actually about a half dozen wise words from him this issue alone and they’re all superb.

Picking up immediately after last issue our motley crew have just ‘lost’ their boat and must traverse the treacherous swamp on foot. As they set out in search of an exit the Vulpess challenges them at every turn. Crafting illusions so masterful that even Geralt cannot tell where reality ends and the delusions begin. Causing him to question and evaluate every occurrence, although not everyone is as competent. Many of the fools who Geralt has become trapped with are easily tricked, causing many of them to died quite unfortunate deaths. Even after being thoroughly tricked time and time again they practically throw themselves into the thresher. Luckily Geralt’s sarcasm and gallows humour are always there to cut through their idiocy. His utter frustration with their

Even after being thoroughly tricked time and time again they practically throw themselves into the thresher. Luckily Geralt’s sarcasm and gallows humour are always there to cut through their idiocy. His utter frustration with their incompetency is one of the best parts of this issue, they continually bumble about until he verbally explodes on them.

The Vulpess’ constant trickery does become tiresome by the end, especially after she begins to recycle her methods. This isn’t as big of an issue as it could be because of the ending of the issue. There’s enough interesting twists and reveals to keep the story interesting going forward. The whole crew are in significantly worse shape by the end so things’ll intriguing next issue.

While the Vulpess’ tricks are beginning to wear thin every other aspect of the story is strong enough that it’s easily overlookable. Tobin has the world and characters down pat now, this is an authentical witcher story through and through. If you’ve been enjoying The Witcher 3 I’d highly recommend this series.

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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