Dusk (2009) is a self-published graphic novel written by David Doub and illustrated by four different artists, three on pencils and two doing inks. Although the story and concepts are interesting, the execution is uneven and falls short of the creators' ambitions. Drawn in the heavily chiaroscuro style typical of black and white comic art in general, the art does not always serve the story or the reader in the ways that it needs to.
The book consists of four stand-alone stories that are not obviously sequential in either narrative or timeline. In Chapter One, we meet Eve, an "enhanced" human who works for a vampire named Ash. Ash is a benevolent if somewhat avuncular figure whose interest in Eve seems wholly paternal. Eve herself acts in the capacity of a slayer or enforcer, à la Buffy or Anita Blake: petite and feminine (and appearing younger than her years, according to dialogue in Chapter Three) but able to kick plenty of butt. She is addicted to drinking small amounts of vampire blood, which in Doub's universe apparently doesn't turn a human into a vampire in and of itself. Ash reluctantly supplies her with blood, but it's unclear whether this elixir is responsible for her powers or not. In Chapter One, Eve is sent to track down a rogue vampire, with unhappy results.
Chapter Two shows us more of Eve's history, current living situation with Ash and past relationships. Ten years ago, she fled an abusive husband only to fall into the clutches of an evil vampire who enslaved her. I found the ending of this story rather touching, but it mostly serves as a retrospective on Eve herself. I wish we could have learned more about her experiences with her evil master, Van Kraken, and what happened to him. I really wanted to know more about Ash's "business trip" somewhere deep "beneath the Swiss Alps" (where he still has cell phone service).
In Chapter Three, Eve joins forces with another mortal hunter to stop a rogue vampire. We get more hints here about the vampire subculture which Eve and Ash apparently serve, but very few details.
In a story quite different from the previous three, Chapter Four deals with a bullied high school student who dabbles in black magic. Here, Eve displays a gift for the magical arts as she tries to stop the student from pulling a Carrie on his high school tormentors.
Artist Maki Naro (inks by Chris Scott) makes the most creative use of layout and composition in Chapters One and Two. However, sometimes creativity interferes with comprehension, and it's a little hard to follow what's going on. This is especially true in a couple of the action/fight sequences. The panels tend to have too much solid black, so that the black overwhelms the imagery rather than highlighting it by contrast.
Chapter Three, with pencils and ink by Jerry Gonzales, almost lost me completely. The art is a muddled mess, with characters who are indistinguishable from each other and long action sequences in which I couldn't figure out what the heck is going on. Blasting guns don't translate well to static graphics for panel after panel. Whole panels of dialogue are in unelucidated Italian or German, as well, and I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty in those languages. I'd have appreciated subtitles.
I'm glad I kept reading, however, because Chapter Four is the best of the book. Artist Franc Czuba (inks by Chris Scott) does a fine job here, albeit with a slightly jarring inconsistency with the interpretations of the characters in the previous three chapters. By the time I got to the very end of Dusk, which is not paginated, and saw Czuba's "Eve/Ash cover" full page graphic, I thought, "Wow. If only the whole book was that good!" I have no idea why Doub used multiple artists for this short work, or how he selected them, but he definitely did not get uniform results.
To the extent that I could tell from the stories, Doub's fictional universe is intriguing, and I'd like to learn more about it. Ash is an interesting character, and Eve herself is complex and multi-layered. The vampire protocols avoid cliché and establish some refreshing new conventions, and I'd love to have seen more explanations and details (and less gunfire for panel after panel). Doub is planning a second volume, and I hope that the artwork improves in consistency and clarity. I see a lot of potential in Dusk and its characters, and they deserve further development. Readers can keep updated on Doub's work at his page on Comicspace.com.
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‘The biggest mistake we Vampires and others in the Hidden Kingdom ever made was to hide away – for what you Humans cannot see, you fear and what you fear, you would make monsters of.
Dear Sirs
One very cold day, just over ten years ago, I found myself standing alone at a wind-swept train station in Newcastle. My being there was thanks to a letter from a complete stranger. I did not know it at the time, but this letter and the short walk I was about to take would soon change my life forever.
I am the founder of a small language translation bureau called Quarto Translations in London and the letter I had received a week previously invited me to come to Newcastle in order to view three large volumes that appeared to be in an unknown tongue. A very generous fee for my time was offered, plus a lot more money if I was able to identify (and translate) the strange writing.
The letterhead itself bore the name Tyne Antiquarian & Rare Books and gave a residential address but no phone number and ended with the initials, A.G.F-P.
The lack of a full name at the end of the letter and the general air of mystery about the whole business meant that, when I arrived at the right street, I was very much looking forward to the interview with ‘A.G.F-P’ and to seeing the volumes themselves.
The entrance to the nondescript house was half-hidden in an alcove whose door seemed to have been shut several years previously and not opened since for any reason. I pushed through the poppies that seemed to be thriving in the otherwise bare front garden and looked for a buzzer in vain. I then gave the door a tentative knock, followed, on reflection, by a good kick.
Inside I heard an odd noise as something scuffled across bare wooden boards. I leaned closer to the door, to locate the source of the noise but as I peered into the grubby, stained-glass window panel, some primitive instinct suddenly told me to be fearful. Nothing, at first, stirred within and all I saw was the blurry outline of shelves and boxes and books; however, some indefinable sense of danger made the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I gave an involuntary shudder.
I was just about to pull away from the murky view I had of this old room with its lurking presence when something moved – right in front of my eyes. The figure was small – no larger than a few centimetres from head to toe and it seemed to hover just in front of my face. Just then, whatever it was moved closer and, for the briefest of instants, I had a very clear view of a pair of small but exceptionally piercing eyes that bored into mine. Almost as soon as the connection between me and It was made, then it was severed as the creature flicked away from my view and was gone.
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