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Soul Stealer

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Soul Stealer Review by Alison Armstrong

Synthesizing Greek and Egyptian mythology with Jungian archetypes, dream motifs, and themes of contemporary urban alienation, Michael Easton has collaborated with illustrator Christopher Shy to create the intoxicatingly beautiful graphic novel Soul Stealer. Timeless themes of love, loss, damnation, and redemption are given an intensely personal, surrealistic approach in this hypnotic fusion of literature and art.

Like his previous literary work, Eighteen Straight Whiskeys, Soul Stealer showcases Michael Easton 's power to evoke intense, often painful, emotions, but whereas a grittily ironic humor permeated his earlier book, Soul Stealer is steeped in illuminating gradations of darkness. The fiercely jagged prose of the battle scenes gives way to the austerely eloquent language of sorrow. Echoing these shifts from violence to grief, Christopher Shy's illustrations flicker with blood-red fury or glimmer with blue-green despair. Brilliant shards of color momentarily pierce the murky depths, creating an effect of candle-lit stained glass. As in the work of poet/artist William Blake, words and image merge to create visionary landscapes of dazzling yet terrifying grandeur.

"Grief is the price we pay for love," Kalan, the hero of the story, reminds us, and like a ceaseless nightmare, grief is an ever present fixture of the novel. Yet despite the pervasiveness of grief, Soul Stealer, like its hero, never loses faith in the magic of love.

Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo , "If I cannot bend the Higher Powers, I will move the Infernal Regions". This epigram from Virgil's Aeneid, echoed in the conversation between Kalan and a sinister preacher, expresses the embittered yet defiant optimism of the book, the driving force behind Kalan's desperate quest, as, tormented by grief for his murdered wife, Oxania, Kalan journeys through Heaven and Hell, past and future, to retrieve her soul from the clutches of death. Kalan's search for Oxania is as unending as his immortality and his desire for vengeance against her killer, the hulking minotaur Apis.

Throughout this quest to reunite with his beloved and avenge her murder, Kalan is continually confronted by his nemesis, Apis, who, like Kalan, travels throughout time, seeking revenge. Kalan kills Apis, then Apis kills Kalan, but neither ever truly dies. Shadows of each other, their fates are interlinked, like Jekyll and Hyde or Dorian Gray and his monstrous, perverse portrait. Both, in a sense, are fragmented aberrations. Apis was an aberration at birth, the spawn of bull and human, not quite man, not quite animal, but a grotesque blend of each. Kalan became an aberration after being gored to death by Apis. Brought back to life, his mangled body parts reassembled and sewn together by Oxania's father, Strabo, Kalan is a patchwork quilt of flesh. Though as handsome as Apis is repulsive, Kalan, like Apis, is a composite creation.

The resurrection and gruesome reassembly of Kalan's shattered body is reminiscent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and of the Egyptian myth involving Osiris. According to Egyptian myth, the god Osiris was murdered and his body hacked to pieces by his brother Seth. Isis, Osiris' wife, found the severed pieces, put them back together, and brought Osiris back to life. The gods Osiris and Seth, fittingly, play major roles in Kalan's saga, ruling the underworld, judging the souls, and toying with the fates of humans and demigods. They tantalize, thwart, change form, and are amused by the anguish they inflict.

As in a dream or a film by David Lynch, the characters in Soul Stealer inhabit multiple realms, multiple selves, shape-shifting their way through enigmatic visions of past and future. Appearance and identity are illusory, deceptive. Things are never as they seem. Just as each individual is a composite of innumerable cells, each self is a composite of psychological aspects, fragmented possibilities and memories, which, like Kalan's patchwork pieces of flesh, disharmoniously coalesce.

In this world of fragmentation and illusion, only love brings wholeness and truth. Only by reuniting with Oxania can Kalan be complete and his quest be concluded. But, fortunately for Soul Stealer fans, Kalan's quest does not end with this book. We look forward to more installments of Michael Easton's epic tale so that we can lose ourselves again in this exhilarating story of otherworldly mystery, unflinching courage, and undying love.

The "Mind of Michael Easton" would be a fascinating place to explore! As revealed in the book, Easton's mind houses complex thought processes woven together to spin the tale. The creases and crevices of Easton's mind shelter an intelligence that sometimes would be beyond my comprehension. From deep into the abyss of that mind comes a brilliance to craft words into outstanding literary works. His thinking runs "deeper than an underground spring". When that spring bubbles forth, we are the recipients of a mind explosion. The journey of Kalen can be felt by all of us. Our minds, our hearts, our souls scream out in utter pain. Pain so excruciating that we cry out in any way possible to reach out and grab on to a lost love. Our hearts bleed to see them again! I would search the depths and breadths of the sea, going into the bowels of the earth to find my lost and only love, my hero, the wind beneath my wings, my husband Ken who died from cancer seven years ago. The power of the pen, the power of the brush - Easton and Shy have unleashed their creative power in "Soul Stealer". Easton has been my inspiration to seek out words from my own mind, scrambling them around to hopefully craft something that is pleasing. Writing and words are a passion of mine. Thank you Christopher Shy for the mind-boggling illustrations of what came out of the "Mind of Michael Easton". Thank you Michael Easton for digging deep into those creases and crevices to bring us "Soul Stealer"

"Soul Stealer" is the most unique novel I've ever read. This creative fantasy, from the brilliant mind of Michael Easton, enhanced richly and beautifully by Christopher Shy's incredible artwork, is a love story as passionate and enthralling as it gets. Michael Easton created a wide variety of unique characters in his story, to me, reminiscent of those in Greek mythology, the old testament, classic and modern romance, thriller, and super hero stories, but newly and completely his own. "Soul Stealer-Book One", and this reader, beg for a "Book Two" and a movie; however, the novel flows just like a movie with the magnificent, colorful graphics illustrating every scene from the writer's story. I can easily see "Soul Stealer" becoming a blockbuster film. -- Tina Payne

I love this graphic novel. It is a great love story with the action that keep you pulled in. Next book due in October 09 woohooo

VERY different type of book, but very interesting. Looking for the next installment....almost like an adult comic book, but it's not funny!! Thanks, Michael.

Ok so I been a comic reader since 1963,and a collector for years now.Ok so I aint read this yet,but I am a fan of this mans TV work,check him out on Port Charles reruns people; playing a dual role of which one is a vampire,he is no slouch on One Life to Live either(yea I'm a soap fan)ok this dude hangs out with Peter Straub,ok u novel readers that oughta tell you something,Straub says he knows his stuff,that being the Author of this graphic novel,Mr.Michael Easton,I hear he writes a mean poem as well.I have never made a review of what I aint read,am now making that exception,am about to order this myself and comment further.I got this kinda confidence in this man,and in saying that,I want us all to give him a chance and check him out.Now I don't expect a Moore's -Watchmen or a Miller's -Batman,Easton has got the guts to try his hand at comic work and I got the guts to back him up.Can I get witness people.Nuff Said,now lets get to reading,oh and if I should be wrong,I will be the 1st to eat crow.In closing neither do I know Easton in the flesh nor do I work in his employ,I aint that shallow and my bottom dollar says neither is he.March 17th,09--OK folks I am back,just read this.The reviewer above me said it all,no way can I improve on that.A great intro by Peter Straub opens SoulStealer then Shy's art work is similar to early Frazetta(that means good people)Easton's writing is sparce but he gets the point drove home,I was left wanting more,TALENT people,thats what these gents offer.Bravo Mr. Easton ,Bravo.More Please..and soon.

purchased this because I'm a Michael Easton fan. I was disappointed. Not at all what I expected. It is a big comic book basically.

I purchased both of Michael Easton's books. I was disappointed with both. I thought I was purchasing novels, not 'comic books'. I hadn't read anything to tell me this was a comic book. I won't purchase the third one when it's finished.