krikkit13
05-05-2009, 09:22 AM
Book: The Dylan Dog Case Files
Writer: Tiziano Sclavi
Artists: Angelo Stano, Andrea Venturi, Giampiero Casertano, Luigi Piccatto, Bruno Brindisi, Mike Mignola
I didn't know very much about Dylan Dog before picking this book up. I just knew that it was a popular Italian horror comic that had been reprinted in the past by Dark Horse with some sweet Mike Mignola covers.
Based on that, I picked this up. It seems a bit expensive at first - $25, but it's actually a pretty great deal. The book is 680(!) pages of black and white art, and reprints the 7 stand alone issues of Dylan Dog that Dark Horse had published in the late 90s. It's also got black and white reprints of all the Mignola covers, which is nice.
Dylan Dog is a ex-Scotland Yard nightmare investigator with a loony sidekick that tells terrible jokes. I read on wikipedia that the sidekick is a Groucho Marx impersonator who has apparently lost his own sense of identity. They don't touch on that in these 7 issues though. For the US printings his name has been changed from Groucho to Felix, and the trademark mustache has been removed from the artwork due to issues with the Marx estate.
The first story is a bit jarring, and is probably the weakest story in the book. The reader is thrown into a serious horror story before being introduced to Felix (who talks in constant jokes), and Dylan Dog, who is not without his own eccentricities. Fortunately the writing gets much better with each story and the characters are toned down (especially Felix, who's role becomes more and more minimal).
There's some excellent horror stories here with all kinds of gruesome murders and some good little plot twists/endings that were really reminiscent of old school horror books.
I'd say that stories 2, 4, and 6 are my personal favorites. The interesting thing is that the further into the book you get, the more surreal and bizarre the stories get.
Story 1: Dawn of the Living Dead
Dylan investigates a zombie outbreak and first encounters the mysterious Xabaras, who will prove to be a sort of on-going arch-nemesis. As I mentioned earlier, this one is a bit awkward at times, and felt like Sclavi was still sort of figuring things out.
Story 2: Johnny Freak
Dylan discovers an idiot savant that has endured some horrible cruelty and takes him in. This is a fairly straightforward horror story with a twist straight out of EC comics. It's also the most sentimental of the stories
Story 3: Memoirs from the Invisible World
Dylan investigates the murders of prostitutes in London. There's a subplot involving an invisible man, as well as some sort of out-there plot deviations. I almost feel as if something might have gotten lost in translation on this one. The basic story is clear enough though.
Story 4: The Return of the Monster
Dylan is hired to protect a rich blind woman from the escaped killer of her entire family. This is another more straightforward horror story that is in the vein of story 2. It's got a nice twist, and reads very well. Maybe my favorite of the stories in this book, and probably my favorite art-wise as well.
Story 5: Morgana
There's some serious meta crossover stuff going on in story 5 which follows Dylan Dog, the undead love of his life, his arch-nemesis, and a Dylan Dog comic book writer through some truly strange interconnected storylines. Story 5 is also a sequel of sorts to story 1; the rest of the stories in the book are all one shots.
Story 6: After Midnight
Story 6 is a surreal long night on the town after Dylan gets locked out of his flat and wanders London. People seem to get killed soon after Dylan leaves the scene, which sets Dylan up as the chief suspect. This really enjoyable story has zombies, spacemen, punk rock clubs, cocaine, government conspiracies and an axe murderer.
Story 7: Zed
The book ends with story 7, which is truly weird and surreal. It's also the most "European" both in writing and in art. Dylan's girlfriend pays to be guided to another dimension, called "Zed" and he tries to find her. The entrance to Zed is guarded by snipers and Zed itself is filled with bizarre creatures, UFOs, storybook characters, etc. There's some really out-there stuff going on in this story, which also has some oddly direct anti-government/consumerist dialogue, which is then promptly refuted by Dylan. Weird stuff.
If you're a fan of horror comics, or a fan of non-superhero comics, I'd highly recommend picking this up. It's got loads of material for a good price, and even the lesser stories are pretty good. The good stories on the other hand are highly enjoyable and very much worth the read. I'd love to see some more English language reprints of Dylan Dog stories too; based on what I've heard, this book only seems to scratch the surface.
On another note, Dark Horse published this compilation because there's a Dylan Dog movie coming out this summer called Dead of Night starring Brandon Routh.
Writer: Tiziano Sclavi
Artists: Angelo Stano, Andrea Venturi, Giampiero Casertano, Luigi Piccatto, Bruno Brindisi, Mike Mignola
I didn't know very much about Dylan Dog before picking this book up. I just knew that it was a popular Italian horror comic that had been reprinted in the past by Dark Horse with some sweet Mike Mignola covers.
Based on that, I picked this up. It seems a bit expensive at first - $25, but it's actually a pretty great deal. The book is 680(!) pages of black and white art, and reprints the 7 stand alone issues of Dylan Dog that Dark Horse had published in the late 90s. It's also got black and white reprints of all the Mignola covers, which is nice.
Dylan Dog is a ex-Scotland Yard nightmare investigator with a loony sidekick that tells terrible jokes. I read on wikipedia that the sidekick is a Groucho Marx impersonator who has apparently lost his own sense of identity. They don't touch on that in these 7 issues though. For the US printings his name has been changed from Groucho to Felix, and the trademark mustache has been removed from the artwork due to issues with the Marx estate.
The first story is a bit jarring, and is probably the weakest story in the book. The reader is thrown into a serious horror story before being introduced to Felix (who talks in constant jokes), and Dylan Dog, who is not without his own eccentricities. Fortunately the writing gets much better with each story and the characters are toned down (especially Felix, who's role becomes more and more minimal).
There's some excellent horror stories here with all kinds of gruesome murders and some good little plot twists/endings that were really reminiscent of old school horror books.
I'd say that stories 2, 4, and 6 are my personal favorites. The interesting thing is that the further into the book you get, the more surreal and bizarre the stories get.
Story 1: Dawn of the Living Dead
Dylan investigates a zombie outbreak and first encounters the mysterious Xabaras, who will prove to be a sort of on-going arch-nemesis. As I mentioned earlier, this one is a bit awkward at times, and felt like Sclavi was still sort of figuring things out.
Story 2: Johnny Freak
Dylan discovers an idiot savant that has endured some horrible cruelty and takes him in. This is a fairly straightforward horror story with a twist straight out of EC comics. It's also the most sentimental of the stories
Story 3: Memoirs from the Invisible World
Dylan investigates the murders of prostitutes in London. There's a subplot involving an invisible man, as well as some sort of out-there plot deviations. I almost feel as if something might have gotten lost in translation on this one. The basic story is clear enough though.
Story 4: The Return of the Monster
Dylan is hired to protect a rich blind woman from the escaped killer of her entire family. This is another more straightforward horror story that is in the vein of story 2. It's got a nice twist, and reads very well. Maybe my favorite of the stories in this book, and probably my favorite art-wise as well.
Story 5: Morgana
There's some serious meta crossover stuff going on in story 5 which follows Dylan Dog, the undead love of his life, his arch-nemesis, and a Dylan Dog comic book writer through some truly strange interconnected storylines. Story 5 is also a sequel of sorts to story 1; the rest of the stories in the book are all one shots.
Story 6: After Midnight
Story 6 is a surreal long night on the town after Dylan gets locked out of his flat and wanders London. People seem to get killed soon after Dylan leaves the scene, which sets Dylan up as the chief suspect. This really enjoyable story has zombies, spacemen, punk rock clubs, cocaine, government conspiracies and an axe murderer.
Story 7: Zed
The book ends with story 7, which is truly weird and surreal. It's also the most "European" both in writing and in art. Dylan's girlfriend pays to be guided to another dimension, called "Zed" and he tries to find her. The entrance to Zed is guarded by snipers and Zed itself is filled with bizarre creatures, UFOs, storybook characters, etc. There's some really out-there stuff going on in this story, which also has some oddly direct anti-government/consumerist dialogue, which is then promptly refuted by Dylan. Weird stuff.
If you're a fan of horror comics, or a fan of non-superhero comics, I'd highly recommend picking this up. It's got loads of material for a good price, and even the lesser stories are pretty good. The good stories on the other hand are highly enjoyable and very much worth the read. I'd love to see some more English language reprints of Dylan Dog stories too; based on what I've heard, this book only seems to scratch the surface.
On another note, Dark Horse published this compilation because there's a Dylan Dog movie coming out this summer called Dead of Night starring Brandon Routh.