Customer Reviews

Serenity Rose, Vol. 1: Working Through the Negativity

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By the time I started reading Serenity Rose, I was already deeply in love with the works of Jhonen Vasquez (the Slave Labor artist/writer who wrote such benchmark "goth" works as "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac"). I'd also pretty much determined that JTHM was my favorite comic of all time. And while I read some pretty grand titles since (including Watchmen, Preacher, 100 Bullets, and the Sandman series), I've never had anything rival it...except for this.

At first, it just resembles your classic Slave Labor title. Spookiness abounds in the small town of Crestfallen, home of one of America's five true witches, Miss Serenity Rose. Extraordinary ethereal powers aside, she's a pretty normal girl. More than a bit antisocial, and really poured into her hobbies (which includes a perpetual stream of disdain for those around her), the only real connection she seems to have at all is a fairly awkward friendship with her childhood friend, Tess.

In her typical shrill manner, Tess manages to drag Sera to a concert, where after an embarrassing opening act, the headliner's lead singer overdoses on a fad drug called "curse" sending him into a monstrous rage that only Sera can end. From here, the reader gets a little more insight, meeting her fellow witches, all of whom seem to be using their powers for some real purpose, and through one way or another have made their lives extraordinary...something Sera's life definitely isn't. And as Sera makes her way around, she can't help but question every facet of her life.

And this is where Serenity Rose excels. Of course, the comic has lots of inside jokes and hilarious pop culture references. But much like the fourth issue of JTHM, the fourth issue of S. Rose is what really exposes the depth of the main character. Sera is no longer just a little goth girl, but a deeply nuanced individual with real needs and desires AKA she's no different than any of us. When Tess finally calls Sera out, and Sera responds with a full-page rant...those two pages alone are worth the price of this book. It was at this point that I began to really read what I was reading.

This trade is volume 1 and contains the first five issues of the series. For some reason, SLG is no longer publishing individual issues of the comic, and I'm pretty sure they're just going to release volume 2 when they're ready to add more to the series. I definitely find this disappointing, since December was the last time I read a new storyline, but I'd be willing to wait another year for Volume 2 if I have to. I don't know anything about Aaron Alexovich (writer/artist), but from what I've seen, he's a hell of a talent, and I can't wait to see where Miss Rose ends up.

Serenity Rose is of obvious interest to anyone looking to fill the need for similar graphic novel works in the vein of Jhonen Vasquez's "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" or "Squee!", which seems to be an extensive portion of SLG (and other publishers') interests in the wake of Vasquez's unfortunate post-Invader Zim creative paralysis.

But enough about comparisons, this book is much better than to simply get lost in the wake of unfortunately stifling Jhonen Vasquez comparisons.

Serenity Rose has a uniquely strong density of emotion and intellectual content. Whereas other "goth" niche comics (Gloom Cookie, Nightmares and Fairy Tales, Courtney Crumin, and others) chose to stick to a more poetic narrative feel, Serenity Rose is possibly the only "goth" comic to make its storytelling idiom centered around a verite' description of the characters and their circumstances. There is a continuous narrative thread throughout the issues, but the drive of the story is through situational and character exploration. The magic of this story is in the details, not so much in the need to get simply from point A to point B in a storytelling sense.

The setting of Crestfallen gets a significant amount of exploration throughout the story. This isn't merely an intriguing exploration of Serenity Rose's universe, it helps maintain the verite' feel of the comic. The satirical sense of humor floats in the details, such as the Ogre pile, quirky gnomes that are occasionally used as meta-narrative (not merely comic relief) and extended, nuanced ideological explorations through characters like Vicious Whisper.

Aaron A. doesn't just puppet the gothic content of his book, he really understands what the lives of these people involve. He buys into his book's image enough to keep some sensibility about it--certainly he does highlight the hilarity of certain aspects of gothic culture, but it doesn't permeate the narrative of the book. At the center of Aaron A's book is a very warm heart, and it's a shame that this book hasn't achieved the more significant market interest it deserves.

The writer/artist, Aaron Alexovich, is nothing short of incredible. His writing is fantastic, his composition is stunning, and his art is an exquisite solution of dark, cute, astoundingly intricate, and just plain beautiful. The use of grey tones in the book will make you forget that it's not in color, and to think that Aaron A. used a regular mechanical pencil.
Serenity Rose is a "20-whatever" aged witch, living in the creepy little town of Crestfallen. She tries to have a nor mal, quiet life, but try that when everyone know's you and you're one of the only 52 witches in the world.
An amazing piece of art and literature, Serenity Rose Vol. 1 should be on the shelf of everyone who has any sort of appreciation for graphic novels. Buy it. Buy it now.
...
Now!

After reading some of it off the site and accidently finding the book I come to the conclusion that is one of the cooler comic like things I have read. It's full of random little blurbs and there is a plot but it tends to go around that in curved patterns.
Serenity rose is a really cool book, to read over and over again.
blue banged and goggled, witch powers, its about extrodianary people in normal day happenings.
not the other way around.

Serenity Rose is a phenomenal comic book chock full of vampires, cute lil goblins, ectoplasm and WITCHCRAFT OF COURSE! My mom found this book for me in a local comic book store and the second i saw it, it was love at first sight. The "gothic" style artwork and the clash of different character personalities as well as their various tendencies and witticisms make the story come alive with a dark humor that you will want to experience again and again!

I thought I'd reviewed this book before, but, after reviewing the second volume of Serenity Rose I came here to double check. Seems I never did. Amazing considering how much I enjoyed this book.

Being, I admit, somewhat social phobic and having my own negativity to work though (who doesn't?), I found the story of some one somewhat like myself, often paralyzed by indecision, working though her problems to be very enjoyable and, yeah, inspirational.

But, it's not just about Serenity. The art is top notch. Done in both ink and pencil, it has a very soft, dark, dream-like quality while still being clear, clean, detailed and expressive. The characters are great, all with distinct and often hilarious personalities. The story, though complex in character with many enjoyable twists and turns, is told from the main character's point of view. We don't know anything she doesn't know, and this keeps the story well paced and easy to follow. Yet, there seems to always be something new to catch no matter how often it's reread. This from some one who has reread the book enough times that the cover fell off.

All told, it's just a great book.

Aaron Alexovich was responisble for much of the character development in Invader Zim. Through him, Jhonen Vasquez was able to use characters like Zim, Dib, Gaz, and everyone's favorite insane robot GIR.

So it is no surprise that Alexovich brings us some steller characters like Serenity "Sera" Rose, her best friend Contessa "Tess" Rubikov, and Vicious Whisper.

The story is about Sera and the life that she lives. Sera is a witch, a someone who is "unstuck from physics". She can fly, make things levitate, manipulate the natural elements, create things out of thin air made from "ectoplasm", and rearrange the appearance of objects (including herself but she doesn't want to because she is afraid she might forget how to change herself back).

Orignally from Chicago (like Alexovich), Sera's mom died when she was young. In her sadness, she froze part of Lake Michigan, which didn't make anyone happy. Then she and her dad moved to a place called Crestfallen, "the spookiest little town in America" which Sera now describes as somewhat of a human zoo to her. The mayor and town seem to have taken advantage of her status as a witch. Technically, the town is like this spooky Branson, Missouri, and Sera wants no part of it.

A series of unfortunate events happend to Sera when she was 16 that caused all sorts of controversy including a standoff at her house with a Supernatural Sheild Initiative (SSI) (think of them as the Department of Homeland Security that monitors witches) that left bullet holes in her home. (It's debated in the story whether or not witches have the same rights as regular humans or if they can even be considered human. A little plot borrowed from the X-Men perhaps?)

Years later, Sera, now 22, has been recruited by a woman named Skarsdayle who is a manager of another witch who happens to be a music artist who Sera is not too keen about. But when a blonde witch shows up to cause trouble, Sera seeks advice from an aloof but wise witch named Vicious Whisper.

In this first volume, you may assume that the drawings are a little crude. As the comic progresses, the work gets better. The online work is improved by leaps and bounds.

If you are hungry for more after reading this comic, you should definite go to Alexovich's website. Google "Heart Shaped Skull".

If you are reading the web comic, which will eventually find its way into Volume 2, you should defintely pick this up to catch up with the first part of the story.

I like the story, a 20's-something witch coming to terms with herself, the town she lives in and the people around her. The execution is first rate, and the art is cute. The only thing that keeps it from being a 5-star is that the book is less than half the size of a standard graphic novel, and the dense, dark, drawing (see the cover) can be hard to read. I plan to buy the sequel.

Serenity Rose,a witch who can do almost anything would rather be a recluse in her house in the town of Crestfallen. Events follow when she fights a drug crazed vampire and a representative of a another witch tries to buy her services. At the end of the book,Serenity makes a life-changing decision. The comic is funny and gothy and cute. Get this one.

I read part of this online--off of the series website, actually, where it was available--and was QUITE happy, thank-you-very-much, to have not spent money on the book itself.

I couldn't even make it through the childish dialogue and wannabe-Vasquez sense of "humor," which was mostly silly, rambly things that were over-the-top and fell on their faces. The art was what kept me going--his style is dark but darling, with Serenity herself being the cutest thing in the book. I eventually went back and tried again, and found the style to be a little more endearing, but I still feel if you had trouble or doubts about the first book as a reflection of the series that you, too, should check out Volume 2. I read it by accident, before reading Volume 1, and found it much better constructed. My suggestion is to try them both out online and buy them (or one of them) after you've checked if you like them. The art alone was not enough to carry me all the way through the first volume, and it may not be quite enough for you, either.

I hope that Aaron Alexovitch can find it in himself to take his writing to the next step and develop a more original sense of humor for himself (again--the second book was a vast improvement). He clearly has the talent. And the art, as I said, is absolutely adorable.