Customer Reviews

Chuckling Whatsit

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This graphic novel is fantastic, Richard Sala is one of our greatest storytellers and artists. Both talents combine in this noir mystery. I would highly recommend this book to any comic fan, especially those interested in "underground" comics, like the ones published by fantagraphics.

Richard Sala is Hollywood's next hot property--or he should be--he just hasn't been discovered yet!

With the narrative scope and the visual sophistication of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Chuckling Whatsit", is practically camera ready. With its eerie mystery, unexpected plot twists, wry humor and bizarre and arcane psychological landscapes "The Chuckling Whatsit" is a tour de force. What Tim Burton is to the feature length cartoon, and David Lynch is to the feature length film, so is Richard Sala to the graphic novel.

I wouldn't mind keeping Richard Sala a secret. After all, don't we feel all the more special when our heroes belong to us fans alone? Nonetheless, it's time for the world to discover the STRANGE and GRIPPING world of Richard Sala!

Years after a series of gruesome murders happened, the murderer seems to have resurfaced and begun killing again - this time, his target is inexplicably astrologers. Meanwhile, creepy dolls made of human skin appear, a mysterious masked assassin prowls the shadows, a secret society of murder appreciators aren't who they seem, and an avant garde artiste who hung himself holds the key to the killings down in the bowels of an old abandoned windmill...

Chilling stuff no? Richard Sala does a brilliant job of bringing together many gothic elements so memorably into a mystery story. Sala's noir drawings are excellent and it's this that make the comic book stand out from others in the indie comics world. I found the mystery story well written but, as sometimes happens when you try to outfox the reader, a bit convoluted. I appreciate that it's hard to keep the tension up in stories like this but the trouble is that it can sometimes all be explained in a rushed, overly verbose manner in the end, which happens here.

I enjoyed "The Chuckling Whatsit", and Sala is definitely carving out a style of his own while paying homage to a number of artists and works, and in this sense he ought to be celebrated for being an original. But as a standalone comic book? Not perfect, but an interesting enough read.

The Chuckling Whatsit is one of Richard Sala's best works. His amazing ability to create a world filled with danger and mystery, filled with colorful characters. Where else will you have a strange person who's carried around in a sack, ordering his Frankenstein-like servant to complete a mysterious quest? Or the powerful Mr. Ixnay who may or may not have returned from the grave? Or even a sadistic group of killers and saboteurs that call themselves G.A.S.H. These are just some of the many players in this graphic novel.

Sala is able to take this complex mystery plot and keep it from becoming too convoluted, His art is superb, he has created a spine-tingling world that is uniquely his own, one that I always enjoy visiting.