Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 2 - Neil Gibson

Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 2 - Neil Gibson

Recommended for 18+

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

I really enjoyed Volume 1 of Twisted Dark, a collection of short horror stories by Neil Gibson and a revolving team of writers; the twists were good, the writing was excellent, and some of them were genuinely heartbreaking. So I was delighted when I had the chance to review Volume 2.

I'm pleased to say that this is more of the same, in a very good way. The notes at the start mention that lots of fans originally complained that the stories were too dark when Volume 1 was originally published, and so they tried to lighten some of them here, which to be honest I can only really see in the story about a bullied high schooler gaining revenge through a science project ('The Experiment'); the rest are just as twisted and haunting as in the first volume, with three in particular standing out for me as top notch: 'Becoming a man', about jealousy within a tribe when one person is chosen to reach manhood over another, did a great job of swerving away from what you are certain is going to happen, only to come back in an even more terrible way at the end; 'Popular', about a girl who cares more about being popular online than with anyone real, and learns the trouble of online stalking firsthand; and 'Smile', which I have to say left me feeling shaken and nauseated, about a woman confessing to a murder.

With that last story, it got me thinking again about what exactly constitutes going 'too far' in books (or indeed any media). Now, I'll roll my eyes at anyone who watches all the way through a TV show only to complain about it afterwards instead of just turning over and ignoring it - in fact, I think they present very real danger to artist creativity. You also get the ridiculous like Janet Jackson's exposed nipple at the Super Bowl (wasn't that the most complained about TV event of all time or something ridiculous?). I do, however, have sympathy for people who are left feeling genuinely upset having read or seen something, which is how I felt with 'Smile' - as a parent myself, anything where children come to harm makes me upset, particularly where the parent is neglectful or uncaring as happens in this circumstance, and in all honesty I wish I hadn't read that one. BUT, I don't see why I should complain about it - it's in a book called Twisted Tales for crying out loud, so it's not as if I wouldn't see any warning coming that some of these stories might leave me feeling a little bothered. Crossed is a graphic novel series that comes up time and time again for pushing the boundaries of taste and decency, and having read a lot of that I can agree that I felt physically sick having read some of it, but again I knew that it was a story that many people said went too far and that's the reason I chose to read it, so I don't see what right I have to complain.

Anyway, I'll finish that strange little off-topic rant there, and confirm that despite me feeling blue after reading 'Smile' (which, despite that, is a great story in itself with a twist that I didn't see at all), this is a second volume of crackingly twisted tales that have left me wanting more.

One confession I do have to make is that in both these volumes the reader is told that the stories are connected through some of the characters, with the connections becoming more apparent as time goes on, but that I still haven't spotted a single one! Not sure what I'm doing wrong here but I'm missing something that I'm sure makes it an even better read! Might have to read them all through again to start catching hold of some of them.

If you like your tales dark and twisted, then the Twisted Dark series is definitely for you. Great to see a British comic publisher putting out quality stories like this.

5/5