The Mourning Star Vol. 2

Étoile du chagrin #2

by Kazimir Strzepek

Après la collision avec une comète et l’effondrement de leur civilisation, les survivants d’une planète dévastée combattent pour leur survie. Les suppôts de l’Ordre, sous la férule de Maître Grène, tyrannisent la population et l’ensemble des clans de la planète, mais une mystérieuse organisation organise la résistance... Le deuxième volume de la série Etoile du Chagrin dévoile un peu plus les intentions et les origines des principaux protagonistes de la série et notamment Le Tueur Coupeur, Klavir et Face de couteau dont les chemins ne se sont toujours pas croisés. Kazimir Strzepek imbrique de multiples histoires dans un récit d’aventure post-apocalyptique extraordinairement détaillé et d’une imagination débridée dans la tradition des meilleurs ouvrages du genre. Il dévoile au fur et à mesure des épisodes de la série les pièces d’un gigantesque puzzle (plus de mille deux cent pages sont prévues jusqu’à la conclusion de la série).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Darren Vogt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of books effortlessly tells a sweeping post-apocalyptic fantasy while containing tons of memorable and very fun characters. The art was crisp, clear, and packed with detail that added to the world building. I could hardly put these down!

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: This is so hard to explain. Basically, a comet wiped out the civilization and much of the population of a world peopled with strange goblin-, mutant-bunny-, or mutant-hippo-like creatures, and this series tells the story of those left alive. Life is brutal, and the only rule left is Stay Alive. At the same time, the rules (if there are any) of this world are so wacky that the story is pretty light-hearted. Don't believe me? Check out the characters.

Characters: Um...Well, my favorite is the floating-hanky shaped creature who sleeps in people's mouths and feeds off their dreams. His two goblin-type traveling companions seem like decent guys, too. One of them is the most sensitive character, pining for his lost love and suffering nightmares from the comet crash. Then we have the Snipper Sniper, an amnesiac coyote-thing who has ninja skills...with scissors. There are the Knights of Rule, a group of terrible goblin-guys you wouldn't want to cross, and a large cast of mutant-bunny side characters and villagers.

Plot: In this volume, the dream-eater gets separated from his host and finds himself in hostile territory, where he is rescued by a fugitive colony of his own kind. The snipper-sniper runs seriously afoul of the Knights of Rule and meets up with a barely-tolerant hippo-guy while trying to remember who he is and what his mission was. We find out that the Snipper has the memory of Dory from "Finding Nemo": he is already forgetting events from the previous volume. The Knights of Rule hang around being impressed with themselves, until an attack from another Snipper spurs them to action. Nothing is revealed and nothing makes sense. Fight scenes and dismembered bodies abound. All in all, a confusing but rollicking good time.

Art: The cartoons are fun, and the fight scenes are easy to follow. However, it's often difficult to tell characters apart when it comes to the pointy-eared goblin types. They all look the same. Maybe I am racist against goblins? Still, it's awfully cute for a series where giant centipedes attacked and get messily shredded.

Dialogue/writing: The characters of this world have their own speaking style, exclamations, slang, accents, and in the case of the crow-man West Enders, their own language that the reader and other characters do not understand. An impressive amount of thought went into writing the script.

What more did I want?: I like this series, I think, but I AM SO CONFUSED.

Say I'm a poor library. Do I buy this?: Maybe. Are there a lot of teens who are into graphic novel series that aren't big, glossy, and full color? Yes? Then probably. It's offbeat and fun. Is the graphic novel collection unpopular; are the patrons more interested in big, flashy works? Yes? Maybe wait and see if anyone asks for it.