Gentle Carmel

Gentle never meant to rise from school punching-bag to Mexican hobo and desert-dwelling superhero. That fate was sealed when he sided with the water creatures.

Beat-up at school for autism and haunted by a mysterious Hag at home, Carmel just wants to draw, shower and do stand-up comedy. But when he sneaks into Mexico to find and murder the Hag, everything changes. He eats delicious fish, rides the rails, climbs peyote mountain and transforms into flames. 

Artist and author Brian Schrank lets loose in this epic journey that bobs, weaves and bursts with experimental energy. Influences range from 80's cartoons, underground comics, shlock horror, cheap manga, and pop culture iconography. Brian blends a dizzying range of styles together to tell the tale of a boy who has a broken mind but an unbroken spirit.

Hopefully I haven’t lost you quite yet, because there’s still a review coming.  This is without a doubt one of the most unique things I’ve read.  Or perhaps I should say “read”, as Gentle Carmel is more a visual adventure than it is one you enter for a story.  Granted, there’s probably a story present, albeit not one that was completely able to gather.

It should have been obvious from the title that this was bound to be an unusual book, but I can’t say I was quite prepared for this level of weird.  Normally if I’m left confused at a story, it’s because I jumped into a series in the middle or just didn’t understand the direction.  This time I’m just confused.  Then again I could be trying too hard to get a logical story out of something that wasn’t meant to.

Artistically, I won’t deny that I was thrown off at first when I started into this.  As I went on though, the artist in me grew to appreciate all of the different art that the book was full of.  All of the art has a very raw look, and can from a sketchbook feel to inner city graffiti.  At some points it’s simply an explosion of color, while others manage to produce some really cool visuals.

If you’re looking to check out a completely nonsensical book with cool looking art, this would be for you.  Story wise it really made little sense to me, but there’s always the chance someone else might have more luck.  It was a fun journey, and if you feel up for the trip, then give it a whirl.

For more information on Gentle Carmel, check out Gentle Carmel.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.