Gloomcookie #1
Written and illustrated by: Serena Valentino and Ted Naifeh
Released by: SLG
This is the first SLG title I’ve read since “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” (which wasn’t really a favorite of mine) and I noticed this title had a similar vibe and feel to it as the Johnny issues…at least in terms of color choices, mood, and lighting for the cover. It’s…interesting. All I can really tell about the story from the cover is there are two Goths kissing with what look like Goth versions of some of Shakespeare’s characters, perhaps with the bard himself on the front cover. And my one big question before I dive in…what the heck is Gloomcookie?
There are three stories in this issue. The first tells us the story of our heroine, Lex, a short Goth princess in the court of the queen of Goths. Lex loves Max. But Max doesn’t love Lex. Oh he likes her well enough, and doesn’t mind going home with her at night and sharing a bed, but Max just can’t like Lex. Because she admitted she liked him. And so they both go the clubs night after night, seeking their true love, but never finding them…at least not in the club.
Sebastian likes monsters. He always has an always will. Heck he even used to wish and dream that he was Vincent Price’s long lost son. His current girlfriend wonders why he doesn’t invite her to spend the night at his house. And so…he tells the tale of being a young boy without many friends and his imaginary monster. One who would always tell him stories about the places that he had been and was always waiting for him when he got home. Until the one day…he wasn’t there. Or so it appeared. And then Sebastian started bringing girls home and the monster devoured them whole. That is…until the new girlfriend turns out to be the bigger monster.
The last story begins tying the first two together. Lex, Max, Sebastian and his girlfriend, Chrys, are all at the club together. Max is making a play for the Goth queen and Lex meanwhile is again hoping that tonight is the night Max says he loves her. But something is afoot. Lex is outshining the queen and that just can’t happen. So the queen and her consort decide to play a game and Max goes home with the queen and poor Lex is left to find out the web of deceit built around her.
I love the second story of the issue the most. It has a bit of a rough beginning with introducing who Sebastian is and his conversation with Chrys, but it hits a high point when he talks about his imaginary monster and an even higher point in revealing that Chrys is an even bigger monster. It’s just a captivating story and makes you want to know more about what Chrys really is. The whole issue has a few rough points, especially in the third story; it just doesn’t blend well together. I get what they’re trying to do…but it just falters a little bit. But overall, I really did enjoy this work. The issues were light, fast paced, and had a nice story line to them and did a pretty decent job of building up the characters.
The artwork is every stylized and heavily influenced by manga with doe eyes and the styles of hair. It’s definitely not my favorite style in the world and while the illustrations fit the story pretty well in terms of style chosen, it struggles a bit. For example, it’s really difficult at times to tell what emotions the characters have on their faces. They all seem…flat. Even when yelling and being angry at each other. Also some of the character designs look like Goth versions of Batman’s rouges gallery. It’s just a bit strange.
I can’t say that I’m the biggest fan of the series, but overall it isn’t too bad and is a nice little break. I’d recommend this to fans of vampire/werewolves stories (like Sookie Stackhouse) and to those in the Goth realm.
