Monday, April 12, 2010

Killer new review and in depth interview with Curtis Lawson!

LILY OF THE VALLEY is described as "a mixture of American Psycho, Edward Scissorhands, and a touch of Jennifer's Body" in this new extremely well articulated review of the series!

You can read the meat and potatoes of the review below. To read it and the in depth interview in their entirety please click here!

"The premise of the comic is simple and direct, albeit extremely surreal. Atherton's tale follows a girl named Lily Brooke who suffers from an array of mental health issues. Finding that prescription drugs and traditional therapy have done very little to help her feel better, Lily discovers a self prescribed therapeutic activity – murder. Luckily for Lily, the folks in the small town that she lives in are convinced that there is a ghost-boy in the woods who's responsible for her crimes.

Now some of you may be skeptical about this concept, as was I, but Atherton executes the subject matter in an amusing and visually gripping manner. Mixing the truly horrific and the down right silly (such as a plastic flamingo being used as a murder weapon), this webcomic is imbued with a whimsical madness that captures the reader.

Furthermore, Atherton has crafted Lily so that the audience can sympathize with her, in a manner similar to Dexter Morgan or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Though I wouldn't classify Lily as a hero, or even an anit-hero, there is a sense of misguided justice behind her actions. One might say that Lily is the armored fist of the crazed, displaced and introverted. This in itself makes her character appealing.

The art has a very stylized look to it that works incredibly well for the story. A careful and limited pallet of colors adds a moody atmosphere with a hint of darkness while staying away from horror comic cliche's such as heavy inking or the overuse of red and black contrast.. What stands out to me most about the artwork on Lily of the Valley is the incredible attention to detail, which I'm a total sucker for. There are no blank backgrounds in this comic. Atherton makes sure to bring the setting to life in every panel, bringing out the little details like magnets on refrigerators and the knots in wooden beams. With such a gorgeously rendered and detailed setting it becomes easy for the audience to submerge themselves in Lily's hometown of Elmwood.

The over all result of Atherton's efforts produces an entertainingly macabre webcomic that might be described as a mixture of American Psycho and Edward Scissorhands, with a touch of Jennifer's Body. All in all, Lily of the Valley is a very impressive webcomic that helps demonstrate what a boon the Zuda competition is to the webcomics community and to the comics industry as a whole.

Now I will say that Lily of the Valley is definitely not for everyone. If you're only into cape books with definitive ideas of right and wrong, or if you simply don't care for surrealism, then you probably aren't going to like this webcomic. For those of you who do enjoy a little fictitious carnage, Lily of the Valley is definitely worth checking out.

As always, thanks for reading. Please let me know your thoughts on this new format. I'll catch everyone here again in fourteen days. Don't close that window just yet though. Check out this interview I conducted with Adam Atherton."

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