Review: Madness & Monsters
“An epic set of Myths: Monsters, Madness, War, Betrayal, Redemption, Isolation and Forgiveness all with a deeply psychological steer”
Madness & Monsters is a 132-page anthology graphic novel that’s been created by Laurence Alison. Alongside a very talented team of artists, colourists, and letterers, Alison takes us on an epic journey across six tales full of monsters, madness, forgiveness, war, and redemption.
As of writing the graphic novel is currently seeking funding via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Currently, the campaign sits at 100 % funding with 16 days remaining - so there’s still plenty of time to secure your copy! While I’m now very selective over what I back on Kickstarter, let’s just say that Madness & Monsters impressed me enough to hit that pledge button to add a physical copy to my bookshelf.
Much like my other anthology reviews, I won’t go into too much depth on each strip as I’m doing so will sour the experience. As such this review will almost act as a preview albeit I’ll still give an overall score come the end. If you have pledged towards bringing the graphic novel to life please feel safe in reading this article as I’ll be refraining from any spoilers.
Jumping straight into the graphic novel we get quite an insightful introduction from Alison as he muses on the thoughts that brought Monsters & Madness to life. It’s quite an interesting piece where we learn of his affinity with the coast and his mysterious dreams of being a grizzled fisherman. It certainly allows us to get into the psyche of the man who’s taking us into the madness, and knowing that Alison’s career experience has also shaped the storytelling within gives an air of authenticity to the characters portrayed. I’m being particularly vague here but each of the eight short stories is extremely well written with each delving into certain parts of the human psyche. Expect plenty of tough-hitting themes such as; revenge, obsession, and regret as Alison weaves these into tales of literal monsters and madness.
Where Madness & Monsters truly shines is with its artwork. Each of the harrowing tales is beautifully brought to life by some truly incredible art which makes it nearly impossible to pick that one artist - or page - that stands out. While I’m familiar with David Hitchcock’s work, he was the only artist here that I recognised from the contents page. However, upon delving into the madness I’ve now had my eyes opened to the likes of Vú Danh, Tiffany Baxter, Kamila Krol, Wayne Hughes, and Nanami Takeuchi. Each artist brings plenty of detail and depth to their work which gives Alison’s storytelling plenty of room to wrap you in its emotional embrace.
As mentioned before I am purposely being quite vague with this review as the graphic novel is one you need to go into blind. Laurence Alison and the creative team have created a master craft in storytelling that goes beyond the typical traits of horror. Crafted by a seasoned writer whose grasp on humanity's psyche runs extremely deep, Alison can tap into his own experiences to bring us tales with a much broader perspective. Considering we’re only one calendar month into the current year, Madness & Monsters is going to be a hard one to beat for my top read of 2025 - it’s that good!
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