Hexes Book 1 and 2 Review
Reading time: 2 minutes
I normally like more realistic proportion art like the John Romitas but the art for these stories while mostly childlike works as they're about boys and their nightmares.
In Waking Nightmare (book 2) the blurry misproportions show how surreal and dream like the story is and the colouring and lettering add to it brilliantly. You can get a deeper feel for the kid's feelings because of how he sees things not logical and the font for lettering. The dot patterns and spiral like designs are also a nice touch adding more to the supernatural element. That being said more detailed expressions on the faces would have improved the story even more as it leads to some confusion on the relation of the main character Ben to the other people. The story is about water creatures who want to take all the hair of Ben and does when he is a child in order to survive. The design of the creature with its blank eyes, black wet hair give a Ring vibe with tentacles to boot. The fact the creature doesn't talk makes it more menacing but there’s a lack of explanation on what the creature is as a result which is a bit disappointing.
The art in the Boy Who Came Closer (book 1) I disliked slightly as the bodies seemed more like shapes with wonky rectangles and triangles for noses for instance. The stories for both books are similar with a folklore feeling to them and the fact that the childhood terror returns to them years later. However this was my favourite story of the two as its more grounded in reality as I can imagine an ill child making the choice to accept a pebble and live longer in a nightmare. There's not a wasted word in the dialogue in this story as each character is individual you can feel the emotions of each speaker especially the awkward resigned Brendan as he tells his friend about the pebble.
Overall these two books both had some unique art with amazing colours and childlike lettering which I wouldn't normally have enjoyed. The stories were enjoyable particularly the first one with its realism and great dialogue. I can't wait for book 3.
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