Strangehaven Vol. 1: Arcadia [Paperback]

Gary Spencer Millidge (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Series: Strangehaven | Publication Date: May 1, 2001

Alex Hunter, driving through the remote rural English countryside, swerves and crashes his car to avoid an apparition in the winding road. When he awakens he finds himself in Strangehaven, a gently off-kilter village that he first doesn't want to leave - and then finds himself entirely unable to escape. He soon encounters some of the village's bizarre inhabitants, including an Amazonian shaman, a man who claims to be from the planet Nimoi, a woman with talking pets, and more. But who is the woman in the fish tank?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Millidge's work may be the most intricate self-published mystery available today. Strangehaven is a classic small town in the English countryside that takes after its name. It isn't on maps, is impossible to leave and has plenty of eerie secrets, including a clandestine society and an unknown man who keeps the body of a woman in a large fish tank. Alex Hunter stumbles upon Strangehaven while traveling. Newly divorced and on sabbatical, Hunter is taken by the town's charm and Janey Jones, a local girl who shows him around. He meets many of the town's inhabitants: Adam, who claims he's an alien with x-ray vision; Mrs. McCreadie, who owns Strangehaven's B&B and habitually wanders her grounds with a flashlight at night; Suzie, Janey's best friend and a character who seems to get all the shallow B-movie dialogue; and Megaron, who once lived in the Amazon. There are many more characters like this, which, ultimately, hurts the story, as does Millidge's eye for quirkiness and attention to detail. Too many question-raising images appear; readers will have to look for answers in the next volume. Millidge uses precise black ink lines capturing the details of every joint and knuckle, inserts photos and uses watercolor. His facial expressions are somewhat inconsistent, but he keeps confusion at bay through clear writing and immediate character association. Commonly compared to the television series Twin Peaks, Millidge's mystery lacks David Lynch's twists and morbid tweaks, but offers a serious jolt of unsettling elements that give readers an unswerving and looming sense of uneasiness.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Abiogenesis (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0946790043
• ISBN-13: 978-0946790043
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,870,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and Whimsical, May 1, 2001

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strangehaven Vol. 1: Arcadia (Paperback)

If you're at all interested in the comic book "Strangehaven", picking up the graphic novels is definitely the way to go. The creator, Gary Spencer Millidge, is only able to crank out the individual issues at erratic and infrequent intervals, and he's lucky if he can push out four of them a year.

Consequently, it's difficult to maintain a sense of continuity. More importantly, though, there's no critical guiding story at the core. There are many references to the possibly murderous activities of some local crypto-Masons, and mysterious cutaways to a dead woman floating serenely in a giant fishtank, but there is no central plot as such. Rather, Millidge takes time to throw the many supporting characters into the spotlight in their turn, and to develop the history of the village of Strangehaven.

In a very general way, this is like an English take on TV's "Northern Exposure", but with more of an occult flavor. That is to say, Strangehaven is, like Cicely in Alaska, a remote village peopled with engaging eccentrics who have fled (or been subconsciously summoned from) the "civilized" world. Hence, this is where you will find a man claiming to be a stranded alien astronaut, alongside a white shaman from an Amazon tribe who is self-exiled from his adoptive clan.

The art is gorgeous (although I do think it's sometimes hard to distinguish one blond female character from another). Millidge clearly pours a titanic amount of effort into creating each panel and the covers, and he uses a variety of artistic techniques and innovative layouts to bring forth very striking and memorable imagery.

For some reason, Millidge's work reminds me of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" (both the "word" novel and the graphic novel) and Robert Holdstock's "Mythago Wood". You might want to check those out, too.

If you have the patience to let the story slowly develop in its meandering way, and if you delight in taking unexpected side treks and explorations away from the main character, you'll find "Strangehaven" very rewarding.

5.0 out of 5 stars I Would Move to Strangehave if I Could, April 23, 2001

By 

Jonathan Schaper (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strangehaven Vol. 1: Arcadia (Paperback)

This is the first collection of one of the best independent comic series being published these days, which unfortunately comes out too infrequently. With its excellent dialogue, character development and almost photorealisitc black and white art, it is like a light-hearted alternative to From Hell.

Combine the Prisoner with Twin Peaks, subtract all the secret agents and a lot of the darkness and add some romance and humour and you have Strangehaven. A normal guy winds up lost and enters a little villiage in the middle of nowhere filled with eccentric characters and can't seem to find his way back to "civilization". There is a murder mystery involving a cult clearly based on the Masons which has been slowly unfolding over the years, but so far this has remained largely in the background as we get to know each of the characters and their wonderful little quirks and histories (things only really take off near the end of Volume 2).
Frankly, I would be satisfied with the series even without the mysteries thrown in given the town's interesting inhabitants and their stories. Like me, I'm sure you'll find yourself wishing you could move to Strangehaven, a village filled with the beauties and delights of scenic small-town living but without any of the boredom. However, the mystery is a nice bonus that will keep you guessing and speculating (Who is the woman in the fishtank? Is that Alan Moore lookalike really an alien? Is Strangehaven really just a small remote village?)