Peculia [Paperback]

Richard Sala (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A great book to leave out on the coffee table for all your non-comics-readings friends to discover. Grade: A. -- Phil Mateer, Comics Buyer's Guide #1490, 7 June 2002

My favorite genre comic of the year. -- LOCUS Online, 13 January 2003, Claude Lalumiere

Sexy and spooky, a hallucinatory and overheated mishmash of shudder pulps and Fleisher Brothers cartoons. Grade: A. -- S. A. Bennett, Comics Buyer's Guide #1490, 7 June 2002

[A] medieval woodcut of stark blacks and whites that approaches the look of photographic negatives....[M]arvelous stories. -- Suspended Animation, Michael Vance

About the Author

Richard Sala was raised in Chicago and Arizona, and currently resides in Berkeley, CA. His animated serial, Invisible Hands, appeared on MTV's avant-garde animation showcase, Liquid Television. Sala is also a prodigious illustrator, contributing to Playboy, The Washington Post, Esquire, the Los Angeles Times and others.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560974958
• ISBN-13: 978-1560974956
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Sala grew up with a fascination for musty old museums, dusty old libraries, cluttered antique shops, narrow alleyways, hidden truths, double meanings, sinister secrets and spooky old houses. He has written and drawn a number of unusual graphic novels which often combine elements of classic mystery and horror stories and which have been known to cause readers to emit chuckles as well as gasps. Although most of his books are written with teens and older readers in mind, his most recent book, CAT BURGLAR BLACK, can be enjoyed by younger readers as well. He has also collaborated with Lemony Snicket and Art Spiegelman, and his illustrations and artwork have won awards and been published all over the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witches, madmen, evil children, and denizens of the macabre, May 16, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peculia (Paperback)

Imaginatively written and deftly drawn by Richard Sala, Peculia is a unique and highly recommended black-and-white graphic novel that connects the bizarre adventures of a truly unusual girl from the comic book series "Evil Eye." The plucky young lady confronts witches, madmen, evil children, and other denizens of the macabre in this tongue-in-cheek, distinctively drawn, and succinctly presented collection.

3.0 out of 5 stars Peculia and captivating, March 4, 2011

By 

Sam Quixote - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peculia (Paperback)

The book is a series of vignettes featuring the character "Peculia", a teenage/twentysomething girl wearing a small dress who lives in a strange world filled with monsters, demons, zombies, people who dress up as superheroes, witches, and jealous ex-boyfriends who are inexplicably world-renowned villains. Welcome to the world of Richard Sala.

The stories are too short to really go anywhere (they're often around 10 pages) and feature Peculia getting into some scrape, usually being kidnapped, and then escaping.

The writing/stories aside, the real treasure in this book is Sala's artwork. The backgrounds in which he puts his weird characters makes for a hugely compelling world, filled with cottages in black forests with men in black coats and top hats stalking amongst the trees, or a gothic house on a cliff filled with dead bodies and murderous children, or castles with mad nobles living with the corpses of their beloveds.

The comparisons are many - Poe, Tim Burton, Hammer Horror, Scooby Doo, Stoker - but Sala manages to find a place amongst these greats and create a unique and original comic book. I feel there's more to Sala than this book so while I think this isn't the best comic book to read, I loved the artwork so much I'm going to buy more of his books to see if he gets better (I'm sure he will).

5.0 out of 5 stars Great morbid fun!, December 5, 2009

By 

Jeffrey A. Dickinson (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Peculia (Paperback)

If you've ever read Sala then you know what he's about-grotesque murderers, sinister secret societies, the odd and the bizarre. Facing off against all of the above is Peculia, his most charming and clever heroine yet.
These stories are like much of Sala's other work but with a more light-hearted tone. This is a lot of fun-buy it immediately.