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A review by mschlat
Glister by Andi Watson
4.0
I'm a pretty big Andi Watson fan, but I'd never read of this children's series until now. I typically love Watson's pencils (an amazing combination of cartoony caricature and scratchy detail) and his coloring (if you can call using one pastel shade per story coloring, but still he uses it sooooo effectively).
This is in the same neighborhood as [a:Jill Thompson|9931|Jill Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1254585081p2/9931.jpg]'s [b:Scary Godmother|1278448|Scary Godmother|Jill Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1182454083s/1278448.jpg|1267435] series or [a:Mark Crilley|36452|Mark Crilley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298693170p2/36452.jpg]'s Akiko works --- you have a young girl (Glister Butterworth) who is a strangeness magnet living in Chilblain Hall, a probably-sentient English mansion that consistently struggles with self-esteem issues and falling plaster. Each of the four stories is kinda like a paranormal cosy; ghosts appear, Chilblain Hall gets frustrated with the local Best Village contest, or Glister causes her relatives to appear by feeding the family tree (which is an actual tree on the property). Nothing is ever too dire, but it is quite funny, and almost always architecturally interesting (in that Chilblain Hall will warp itself about depending on its mood).
There's one story that has a greater bit of peril and one of the more terrifying visions (for a children's book) of Faerie than I've seen in awhile. It's an excellent example of Watson's imagination and graphic design and on its own makes the volume worth buying. But, really, if you like children's fantasy in graphic novel form with a cosy, familiar feel, this is a must read.
This is in the same neighborhood as [a:Jill Thompson|9931|Jill Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1254585081p2/9931.jpg]'s [b:Scary Godmother|1278448|Scary Godmother|Jill Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1182454083s/1278448.jpg|1267435] series or [a:Mark Crilley|36452|Mark Crilley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298693170p2/36452.jpg]'s Akiko works --- you have a young girl (Glister Butterworth) who is a strangeness magnet living in Chilblain Hall, a probably-sentient English mansion that consistently struggles with self-esteem issues and falling plaster. Each of the four stories is kinda like a paranormal cosy; ghosts appear, Chilblain Hall gets frustrated with the local Best Village contest, or Glister causes her relatives to appear by feeding the family tree (which is an actual tree on the property). Nothing is ever too dire, but it is quite funny, and almost always architecturally interesting (in that Chilblain Hall will warp itself about depending on its mood).
There's one story that has a greater bit of peril and one of the more terrifying visions (for a children's book) of Faerie than I've seen in awhile. It's an excellent example of Watson's imagination and graphic design and on its own makes the volume worth buying. But, really, if you like children's fantasy in graphic novel form with a cosy, familiar feel, this is a must read.