Zervanalia
Zervanalia #1&2
Zervanalia #2 © Denny Derbyshire. | Zervanalia #1 & 2 Denny Derbyshire |
There would seem to be ample room for comparison with Mervyn Peake's Gromonghast here. However, as I have by no means read that weighty tome, I am tentative in drawing directly.
Both Zervanilia & Gormanghast are suffused with baroque, fantastical & yet very ordinary elements. This is the backdrop. Both centre upon one central character's career & development.
The world of comics can be good at exploring the inner motivations of character through the convention of 'thought balloons'. That Denny has declined such a blunt approach is a good thing as you are left without explicit pointers to character's motivations, leaving you to impose your own reasoning on their actions. The central character, who we follow directly in stories featuring him & which all other stories seem to dance around, is named Peer. He starts off as a fresh young thing working in an arcane fabric factory. He is a bright lad & soon comes to the attention of his superiors; & discovers what this can mean. It all takes off from there. His motivations, as stated, are never explicit, but they certainly seem to be innocent. Time is the great debaser though, & he seems to become less altruistic, nay, malicious as things continue.
The stories are played out very well & it rewards rereading to capture the inter-linking you might not have caught on the 1st reading.
The art is assured & accomplished, conveying the otherworld, yet familiar setting that the story demands very well indeed. In fact the vision is so assured that it makes many other comics pale in comparison.
Intrigue; be it in unexplained ritual & underlying politics are never far from the surface & tantalise you with the expectation of more. Oh & there's a good dose of humour as well - such as in The Meat Wagon in #2: bawdy, morbid humour as the meat sellers come to town to ply their trade.
At the end of the 2nd book Peer comes to an impasse. He can no longer stay & heads out into the wider world - away from the city.
mooncat.
Zervanalia #3
Zervanalia #3 is by Denny Derbyshire. Unfortunately ZUM! does not have a sample image at present.
| Zervanalia #3 Denny Derbyshire |
Top notch imaginary fabling from the mind from Derbyshire via Cumbria. There are two tales here. The first is All Change a provable tale of the problems between kith and kin, resulting in muddy caking and the purloining of ponytails, it is a nice prelude to the second, longer story. Skin Lord tells of the involvement of Prof. Scruton with a new sect which leads him twisting and turning through an imaginary narrative where he splendidly uses magnets to do battle with a depilated Bull on a carpet of vampire geese. Nurse! The screens!
The events are relentless in the later tale, imaginary situation falling upon situation like a game of snap, jumping and switching with each panel. Such exuberance could be wearisome or seem cocky but in fact comes over as a feast to be revelled in.
The clear line artwork is consistent throughout and balances against the text well. Denny moves the pace along nicely, especially in Skin Lord building to the psychedelic influx at the heart of the story then flexing her muscles with some fine and freaky, hallucinatory single pages.
Denny’s writing is a little poetic, a little descriptive and a little obtuse, just the right balance for this kind of subject matter but it is the power of the imagination, which distinguishes this comic as a little bit special
Chris Webster.
| Zervanalia #1,2,&3:36 A5 Pages each, #3:2 color cover | Recieved at ZUM! HQ: no info |
no price listed... - try £2 each | Denny Derbyshire, Catseer Comics, 4 Hardwick St, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA14 5RZ |