The Veil
written by El Torres
illustration by Gabriel Hernandez

reviewd by : EJTower

As the old proverb has it: in the land of the blind, the one eyed woman is queen.  But in a detective noir world tainted by the unseen presence of a viscous, Lovecraft-inspired zoology, actually seeing is a serious problem.  Christine Luna has many problems as a private investigator, she works for the dead, taking her living from the forgotten savings accounts and death throws of her clients’ remaining credit cards, but she has finally reached rock bottom, bank broke.  Returning to her home town in Maine, she plans to sell off the old family property, but instead unearths ghosts from her past that answer questions she never dared to ask.  Ghosts that force her to remember: the accident that gave her the power to see beyond the veil, the world that lurks beyond, and the one who is waiting there to come through.

In The Veil, El Torres writes a story worthy of the Lovecraft mythos that is fused perfectly with the frenetic, atmospheric art of Gabriel Hernandez.  The art manages the impossible perfectly, by illustrating moments of indescribable horror, while maintaining the noir feel in moments of apparent normalcy.  The singular failure of the work is the rapid conclusion, which might have benefited from a more gradual turn around and fewer hasty transitions from place to place, but this does not seriously detract from the whole.  This graphic novel is a fitting choice for anyone who can properly speak the name Cthulhu, although the great old one does not appear in this work.  Originally released in four single issues, it is now available in a single book from IDW Publishing.

overall 8 . story 7 . art 8

more info at www.idwpublishing.com

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Tags: el torres, gabriel hernandez, graphic novel review, idw publishing, lovecraft, the veil

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am and is filed under media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

One Response to “graphic novel review : the veil”

1. “El Velo”, reseñas. “The Veil”, reviews « Malaka Studio Blog says:

   May 24, 2010 at 1:07 pm

   [...] EJTower -not related to El Torres-, makes an interesting point about the links between The Veil and the Lovecraftian Mythos, at the Auxiliary Magazine. [...]