Review: Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires

Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires
by Richard Sala
Fantagraphics, $9.95

Richard Sala has a wonderful way of combining spooky and fun, and in no place is this tendency on better display than with his stories staring Peculia.

In Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires, the title character falls in with a bunch of other teenage girls who are off to babysit for a family. But of course the family are vampires! What follows are a series of escapades of blood sucking and narrow escapes.

It's a testament to how well Sala develops Peculia's character that I didn't notice on a first read-through just how little dialogue she has. It's all in the reactions she has to the other characters.

How many times have I said 'spooky' and 'fun' in this review? Plenty of times, but here's one more: Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires is spooky fun, and an enjoyable read!

Rating: 4 (of 5)

SNAP! Pics

Phoebe Gloeckner has a photo set of pics she took at SNAP! on Satuday.

(No captions though, so except for a couple of pics I'm unsure as to who is who...)

New Library Comics: Week of October 24, 2005

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:



Hernandez, Jaime. Locas : the Maggie and Hopey stories. /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2004.

Kim, Derek Kirk. Same difference and other stories /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, 2004.

Kochalka, James. The cute manifesto /Gainesville, Fla. : Alternative Comics ; London : Diamond [distributor], 2005.

Pictures and words : new comic art and narrative illustration /London : Laurence King, 2005.

Rosenkranz, Patrick. Rebel visions : the underground comix revolution, 1963-1975 /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2002.

Sabisch, Ingrid. Albrecht Durer : vom Handwerker zum Kunstler und Gelehrten /Heroldsberg : Verlag die Heldin, 2003.

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Buddha /New York, NY : Vertical, 2003- v. 5-6

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- Penguin soup for the soul /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 1998.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- Tune in Tomorrow /New York : St. Martin's Press, 1994.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- When penguins attack! /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2000.

Tomorrow, Tom, 1961- The wrath of Sparky /New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 1996.

Vescovo, Matthew. The life and death of bling bling : a story of innovation, proliferation, regurgitation, commercialization and bastardization /[New York, NY : Instructoart Book Associates, c2004.]

Woodring, Jim. Seeing things /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, 2005.

SNAP! Day 2: Halloween

Continuing my week-long look at comics I picked up at Saturday's SNAP! With Halloween just a couple of days away, I couldn't resist picking up a few related minis:


When technical difficulties prevented Ben T. Steckler (aka BenT) from debuting a new mini-comic at the show, he came up with a new idea: he put together three quickie spooky-themed one-page fold-overs and packaged them into a Halloween treat bag as S.N.A.P. Decision. Short fun is to be had in Dead Man Walkin', Halloween Stinks!, and Bat Jam (excerpt below).





I already sang the praises of Pam Bliss yesterday, so it should be no surprised that her mini-comic Small Feather Bat was a lot of fun. It has dogs, cute little bats, and a werewolf librarian.


Finally, Sean Frost & Wendi Strang-Frost's A Yearly Treat is a six-page color chapbook ghost story of trick-or-treaters and that one house that no one goes up to, unless it's on a dare... Not only does the story do a good job at getting in and setting the mood and telling a story, but the art is quite accomplished too. This Hula Cat Comics production is a winner.


That's it for the Halloween-themed comics. More SNAP! finds tomorrow!