Graphic Novel Friday: The Stuff of Legend
The Stuff of Legend by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith, illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III, takes familiar elements, juxtaposes them with the surreal, and manages to be original and darkly fascinating. As the jacket copy states, "The year is 1944. As Allied forces fight the enemy on Europe’s war-torn beaches, another battle begins in a child’s bedroom in Brooklyn. When the nightmarish Boogeyman snatches a boy and takes him to the realm of the Dark, the child’s playthings, led by the toy soldier known as the Colonel, band together to stage a daring rescue. On their perilous mission they will confront the boy’s bitter and forgotten toys, as well as betrayal in their own ranks."
Well, there's the familiar, spelled out for you: fantasy world extending out of boy's bedroom, the boogeyman, and anthropomorphic toys. The reason The Stuff of Legend works is that it commits so fully to the concept--there's no wink-wink to the reader, there's nothing twee, and the humor is fairly dark. The sepia hues and clear but nuanced style of the artwork helps as well--allowing for the surreal but coating it all in the mood of the real. Talking pigs and bears, things wearing frog masks, and weird jesters have more to do with the visions of Bosch or a dangerous version of Alice in Wonderland than with whimsy.
The World War II context also grounds this graphic novel, making the stakes more complex and more involving. Actions have consequences. Nothing comes easy.
That said, I'm stressing the serious elements mostly to make sure you don't turn away from a book with a teddy bear on the cover. This is good, entertaining stuff, not dour, drab stuff. I'm looking forward to book two.
cartoon face on June 07, 2010 at 02:16 AM
Good article,I like it.