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Veils
Brimming with eroticism and intrigue, VEILS incorporates computer-manipulated photography and lushly painted art to tell the story of Vivian Pearse-Packard, who, newly married to the abusive, alcoholic son of a British ambassador, finds herself in an exotic land thousands of miles from her home and family. Vivian embarks on a sensual journey of self-discovery as she visits the Sultan's palace and is invited to enter that most forbidden of places: the harem. Is the lure of the forbidden worth the ultimate price?
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
About the author
Pat McGreal
150 books3 followersPat McGreal was a prolific writer of Disney Comics for the Egmont Company overseas, much of it later republished in this country. His non-Disney work included three graphic novels for DC/Vertigo: Chiaroscro; The Private Lives of Leonardo DaVinci, Veils and I, Paparazzi. Among the comic books he wrote for were Captain Marvel, Tarzan, The Simpsons, Judge Dredd, The Flash, Justice League, Indiana Jones, Martian Manhunter and Fighting American.
He was an Eisner Award nominee and a past president of the Comic Art Professonal Society.
He was an Eisner Award nominee and a past president of the Comic Art Professonal Society.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 29, 2018
Much like the titular garment that graces the cover of this work, Veils covers more than just the characters within. When a Victorian era woman joins her husband and erstwhile countrymen at a conference in Ottoman controlled Istanbul (it used to be called Constantinople) a sprawling story laced with Orientalism as much as intrigue spools forth. Featuring photorealism that melds the computer generated with the camera generated, Veils makes for a read that is as experimental as it is orthodox, occluded as it is revealed, and unique as it is well trodden down path.
To begin with, it's been a real treat to dig into all these *old (only two decades for the most part) Vertigo comics from the late 90's - early 00's. Every story (no matter its flaws) is a hidden gem and Veils is no exception. This little ruby surges forth with an art style suffused with glints and gleams of the photorealist style that is readily employs.
As experimental as the comic is, it heavily draws on an established Orientalist style that has much in common with Delacroix (who I did a paper on in college - sweet!). Depicting a Western perspective on the East, with all the fantasies and distortions it entails proves Veils to be an intriguing mashup up of the old and the new. There may be nothing new under the sun, but Veils manages to do some interesting reduplicating here.
Just as Veils reduplicates the old with the new so too is its internal structure held up with a well known literary technique - a frame story. Just as experimental is the approach toward art, so to is the use of this technique. What begins as a story within a story eventually inverts itself as much as elucidating the outer (as it were) story.
The techniques employed here are great. they're easy on the eyes and strong use of contrasts make them all intriguing. The story is equally intriguing teasing us with what is known as much as what is unknown.
One thumb up
To begin with, it's been a real treat to dig into all these *old (only two decades for the most part) Vertigo comics from the late 90's - early 00's. Every story (no matter its flaws) is a hidden gem and Veils is no exception. This little ruby surges forth with an art style suffused with glints and gleams of the photorealist style that is readily employs.
As experimental as the comic is, it heavily draws on an established Orientalist style that has much in common with Delacroix (who I did a paper on in college - sweet!). Depicting a Western perspective on the East, with all the fantasies and distortions it entails proves Veils to be an intriguing mashup up of the old and the new. There may be nothing new under the sun, but Veils manages to do some interesting reduplicating here.
Just as Veils reduplicates the old with the new so too is its internal structure held up with a well known literary technique - a frame story. Just as experimental is the approach toward art, so to is the use of this technique. What begins as a story within a story eventually inverts itself as much as elucidating the outer (as it were) story.
The techniques employed here are great. they're easy on the eyes and strong use of contrasts make them all intriguing. The story is equally intriguing teasing us with what is known as much as what is unknown.
One thumb up
August 30, 2018
Good god, this is an ugly book. The "computer manipulated photography" manages to look stiff and unnatural at best, ridiculous at worst.
May 15, 2023
Beautifully illustrated and envisioned. The combination of finely wrought illustration and CG images is captivating. The story was solid as well, though not especially original or creative. I was disappointed with the absurdly earnest Eurocentrism at the very heart of the story; unfortunately, that aspect of this work soured all the positives for me.
April 13, 2009
The book uses photographs (as well as digital and painted artwork) of elaborate sets and costumed actors to carry the story, presenting a richly textured Victorian colonial style and exuding a lush, Middle Eastern mystique. It's a seamless blend of evocative, sensous photography that merges with digitally generated backgrounds to create a surprisingly real time and place of long ago or far away. In short, it evokes a mythic, Arabian Nights-like landscape of the mind's imaginings. The artwork alone is enough to make you read this graphic novel.
Vivian, a young English housewife, accompanies her insufferable husband on a diplomatic mission to an un-named Arabic country. There, they happen upon the local slave market, where Vivian becomes fascinated by a female slave.
Later, visiting the sultan along with her husband, Vivian is invited, quite improbably, to visit the royal harem. It really begins, though, when women of the East meet a woman of the West. There she hears the story of Rosalind, a white aristocrat kipnapped into the harem years before.
For years, woman are preceived in certain ways and must uphold their appearance and thoughts in a certain way to uphold their status. Well, Veils does the opposite. It allows the protagonist the daring decision to liberate her feminity and desires and in the process, sheds all her outer burdens. Truely literary and deep. Deals with the orient, feminism, and of course male domination on the female body.
The story is all about dualities: rank vs. power, public vs. closed societies, and real vs. fable, to name just a few. The dualities are so much sharper for being so close beside each other, as close and as far away as the harem behind the women's door.
Veils is a tale of eroticism and intrigue, and also something of a psychological mystery. It's up to you to peel away the veils -- one by one -- to learn the potentially deadly truth.
Book Details:
Title Veils
Author Pat McGreal
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Vivian, a young English housewife, accompanies her insufferable husband on a diplomatic mission to an un-named Arabic country. There, they happen upon the local slave market, where Vivian becomes fascinated by a female slave.
Later, visiting the sultan along with her husband, Vivian is invited, quite improbably, to visit the royal harem. It really begins, though, when women of the East meet a woman of the West. There she hears the story of Rosalind, a white aristocrat kipnapped into the harem years before.
For years, woman are preceived in certain ways and must uphold their appearance and thoughts in a certain way to uphold their status. Well, Veils does the opposite. It allows the protagonist the daring decision to liberate her feminity and desires and in the process, sheds all her outer burdens. Truely literary and deep. Deals with the orient, feminism, and of course male domination on the female body.
The story is all about dualities: rank vs. power, public vs. closed societies, and real vs. fable, to name just a few. The dualities are so much sharper for being so close beside each other, as close and as far away as the harem behind the women's door.
Veils is a tale of eroticism and intrigue, and also something of a psychological mystery. It's up to you to peel away the veils -- one by one -- to learn the potentially deadly truth.
Book Details:
Title Veils
Author Pat McGreal
Reviewed By Purplycookie
July 11, 2015
This book confuses me. I am not sure if this is just straight up sexual fantasy played out. Or an actual inspiring "suppressed female protagonist becomes empowered to escape her abuser" type of dark story. Both?
Basically the portrayal of sex and abuse made me uncomfortable. The way it was told was hard for me to process.
The first scene after the intro turned me off to the whole story. So that was tough. A slave woman was shown being auctioned off. She is stripped naked in front of a huge crowd of people. And this slave woman is apparently comfortable and "acting playful." Groomed for possession.
I guess I am supposed to be as horrified as our heroine. That anyone could possible APPEAR to be okay with being treated like an object to be used.
I really just skimmed after that. Could not.
Love Rebecca Guay's art. Beautiful.
Basically the portrayal of sex and abuse made me uncomfortable. The way it was told was hard for me to process.
The first scene after the intro turned me off to the whole story. So that was tough. A slave woman was shown being auctioned off. She is stripped naked in front of a huge crowd of people. And this slave woman is apparently comfortable and "acting playful." Groomed for possession.
I guess I am supposed to be as horrified as our heroine. That anyone could possible APPEAR to be okay with being treated like an object to be used.
I really just skimmed after that. Could not.
Love Rebecca Guay's art. Beautiful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2021
It is a weak orientalist, sensationalist work. Photo/Graphic Novel style is very undercooked; it felt like trying to create a Dave McKean Sandman cover on each page and failing miserably. The drawing pages were clearly neater. The whole story is a variation on the story of the "Hurrem Sultan" (which in itself turned into a huge TV series in Turkey); so for a Turkish person this stuff is as stale as 3 days old bread (thus take my evaluation with a grain of salt).My main beef is the way the Ottoman, Palace, Harem etc. depicted is very superficial; the actual stuff that went between those walls was way more interesting.
One last thing, it is good to slip in few "local" language words, particularly those that are hard to translate; it gives a bit of authenticity. I understand that; but do your research well man. There is a character called "Kizlar Agasi", and he is called through out the book as Kizlar as if it is a first name. Kizlar Agasi is a position, means more or less Guardian of the girls; so he would be normally called Aga at worst, Kizlar means "Girls"...It is like calling Peter Pan "Hey Wok, how ya doing?"
One last thing, it is good to slip in few "local" language words, particularly those that are hard to translate; it gives a bit of authenticity. I understand that; but do your research well man. There is a character called "Kizlar Agasi", and he is called through out the book as Kizlar as if it is a first name. Kizlar Agasi is a position, means more or less Guardian of the girls; so he would be normally called Aga at worst, Kizlar means "Girls"...It is like calling Peter Pan "Hey Wok, how ya doing?"
August 9, 2019
The path comics did not go. This reminds me in the 90s when comics could have gone two ways--to the purple prose of the Vertigo Universe or the rude boys of the 90s Image revolution.
Comics can be pretty--look at the painted comics of the 80s (i.e. Dave McKean) and the computer generated graphics of the present. But this was a fumetti style that I wished as explored more thoroughly and effectively.
This story isn't all that well-written, but it is gorgeous and titillating.
Comics can be pretty--look at the painted comics of the 80s (i.e. Dave McKean) and the computer generated graphics of the present. But this was a fumetti style that I wished as explored more thoroughly and effectively.
This story isn't all that well-written, but it is gorgeous and titillating.
December 19, 2021
The story and art are rough around the edges, but it had my attention to the end. And kudos to the art team for trying something new. The story, I think, is about realizing that you still have power when it seems that everyone wants something for you and from you. Vivian's choice at the end included an unspoken third choice - to just leave.
December 22, 2019
Terrible. Boring and dry story telling. Nothing but a horrible English woman fantasy on being in a harem. Any respectable woman would not want that. The photography is cheesy and distasteful , but the actual art is good.
September 14, 2016
Beautifully drawn and photographed, but I found myself baffled by the story. It read like a weird historical romance, not quite worked out. Harlan Ellison and Entertainment Weekly both liked it, but neither is on my list of where I turn for graphic novel recommendations. Will Eisner, on the other hand, liked the writing, but apparently because of the way it is written as a period piece. I'll give it that, certainly. Just a really creepy period piece.
A Victorian woman is in a loveless marriage, and while accompanying her husband and her father in law on a trip, is exposed to the society and culture of what appears to be the late Ottoman empire. The trips into the harem become less and less believable as the story progresses, and while the artwork was beautiful, the fumetti structure was both attractive and repulsive, as the models chosen were in some cases just weird, like the husband and Bey.
A Victorian woman is in a loveless marriage, and while accompanying her husband and her father in law on a trip, is exposed to the society and culture of what appears to be the late Ottoman empire. The trips into the harem become less and less believable as the story progresses, and while the artwork was beautiful, the fumetti structure was both attractive and repulsive, as the models chosen were in some cases just weird, like the husband and Bey.
January 11, 2008
This is a sexy comic, and an excellent example of fumetti, the process of creating a comic using real photography. The story also is surprisingly interesting; a decidedly feminist bent comes through the tale of a Victorian British housewife who travels with her husband to visit a sultan and becomes fascinated by his harem. She befriends a younger woman in the harem and listens to stories the women there tell her, and after seeing (and briefly experiencing) their way of life she starts to question her world views and assumptions about men, women, marriage, and sex. Though the story is short and not particularly detailed or digressive it does raise some interesting questions. I thought the ending was a little contrived and contradictory, but I still like this book on the whole, if only because it's still kind of hot.
November 27, 2011
This is a very beautifully rendered one-shot tale-within-a-tale.
If you like "Sandman"-style Eastern/Arabic meets Victorian England stories, you'll enjoy this.
There are two styles of graphics here- the computer-enhanced photo-realism of the main action- and then the more traditional colored-pencil type drawings of the story-in-a-story.
The action is dark and brooding - the traditional woman's view in Victorian society in the colonial era. (Another reason I compare it to "Sandman.")
But it has a few surprises, and treats the Arabic lifestyle/culture with more respect than usual, even while presenting the decadence and eroticism inherent in such taboo-propriety tales.
Worth a read, if only for the gorgeous artwork and presentation. The curiously feminist leanings of the tale are enjoyable, if not unexpected.
If you like "Sandman"-style Eastern/Arabic meets Victorian England stories, you'll enjoy this.
There are two styles of graphics here- the computer-enhanced photo-realism of the main action- and then the more traditional colored-pencil type drawings of the story-in-a-story.
The action is dark and brooding - the traditional woman's view in Victorian society in the colonial era. (Another reason I compare it to "Sandman.")
But it has a few surprises, and treats the Arabic lifestyle/culture with more respect than usual, even while presenting the decadence and eroticism inherent in such taboo-propriety tales.
Worth a read, if only for the gorgeous artwork and presentation. The curiously feminist leanings of the tale are enjoyable, if not unexpected.
July 18, 2007
Attracted to this by the lovely, painted art of Rebecca Guay (whose art in the books of White Wolf's Changeling won me too her), 'Veils' turned out to be quite a piece of work -- I don't think it's the future of comics by any shot, and I found the photo/computer rendered art awkward and often flat and lifeless in comparison to Guay's gorgeous styling...
But to say the least, the story was sound if somewhat predictable, and heavy with Empowered And Transformed woman, but it wasn't bad-- but it was definitely short a five star rating. (More like 3 1/2, but...) Still, give it a shot, it is quite pretty in places at the very least.
But to say the least, the story was sound if somewhat predictable, and heavy with Empowered And Transformed woman, but it wasn't bad-- but it was definitely short a five star rating. (More like 3 1/2, but...) Still, give it a shot, it is quite pretty in places at the very least.
November 22, 2011
This is a strange book combining photographs of models in costume with actual drawing & painting. While the content is adult (rape,violence, sexual suggestion but not graphic), there is more to it than just that. Dealing with 'white slavery' during the Victorian Era and a woman standing up to her abuser, while attempting to find her own path.
Written by Pat McGreal with photographs & illustrations by Stephen J. Phillips and Jose Villarrubia. I'm reminded of some of the more exotic work by Alan Moore & Neil Gaiman.
Written by Pat McGreal with photographs & illustrations by Stephen J. Phillips and Jose Villarrubia. I'm reminded of some of the more exotic work by Alan Moore & Neil Gaiman.
September 20, 2013
I originally only bought this because Rebecca Guay had drawn part of it and I loves me some Rebecca Guay. However, I got surprised by how insightful and interesting this book about a victorian age\proper woman has her world turned upside down as she visits the exotic world of the seraglio and the harems -- and the tiny tales that accompany it.
Also, I had never met the "photonovel" style of art and I was greatly fascinated by it.
Also, I had never met the "photonovel" style of art and I was greatly fascinated by it.
January 20, 2015
When I started reading this, it was obvious that it was a man trying to write from a woman's perspective, but adding as much of the typical male fantasy into the plot as he possible could. I was really worried it was going to be complete and utter crap. However, the overarching story is actually quite good, and the art is lovely! I read it in its entirety, and I love that the ending revealed NOTHING.
I really feel that this should have a 3.5 star rating, but half stars are not yet possible.
I really feel that this should have a 3.5 star rating, but half stars are not yet possible.
January 8, 2010
It sounded interesting, and it kinda sorta was, in that now I know what the structure of a harem is, should I ever need to know this. The bigger and better thing, though, is that I now know what the font for my second tattoo will be. Yay!
August 17, 2007
Gorgeous photography is complimented by and blended with illustration. Never seen a graphic novel put together like this one.
September 12, 2008
The art in this is incredible - the story, unfortunately, is not - thus the 3-star rating. But it's worth checking out...
August 3, 2011
Interesting choices in pictorial style. Very pretty. A bit of an odd story, with a twist that surprised me.
August 15, 2012
Another Graphic Novel which has photo art, and illustration, to create a story with a strong surreal effect.
August 24, 2014
The artwork was beautiful! The story itself could have had more.
August 21, 2016
Incredibly ugly and inexcusably sexist. Culturally insensitive "orientalism". How did this get published?
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews