Graphic Novel Review: Pumpkinomicon: A Horror Anthology
Author: T.A Acierto
Genre: Horror
Age: Adult
Format: PDF
Firstly, I’d like to thank the author for providing an ARC for honest review.
This graphic novel is the work of film director and screenwriter T.A Acierto, bringing together different artists to tell stories written by Acierto. Like any anthology, the stories here proved a bit hit and miss for me, and unfortunately more missed the mark.
I’m a huge fan of graphic novels, and I’ve always been drawn to darker works. It was The Crow by James O’Barr that first captivated me and drew me to the horror genre, which I had steadfastly avoided in other media. I cannot handle watching horror films or TV series—I think it’s the music and sound effects that cause sensory overload for me—but I have come to love and regularly indulge in horror in novels, graphic or otherwise, which was why I was so keen to read what looked like a fun if campy collection. Perhaps I should’ve known from the cover art alone that this was not going to be quite my usual cup of tea.
Having devoured everything by the likes of James Tynion IV, Christopher Shy, Jeff Lemire, Dave McKean, Marjorie M. Liu, Kieron Gillen, Ed Brubaker, and Alex de Campi, I have developed appreciation for a certain narrative approach taken in graphic novels. I strongly prefer to see an author trust the artist to render the story without needing to add multiple text boxes of exposition. My favorite graphic novels have minimal text, using dialogue to provide characterization while the imagery shows the world-building and plot points. Perhaps this is simply a pet peeve of mine, but I do not like having to read in words what the pictures are already conveying in color, shape, and composition.
So, while I appreciate the somewhat unique approach taken in this anthology to evoke a more classic campfire style, whereby different narrators are tasked with telling the various batches of stories, I felt the narrators as characters themselves were one-dimensional and uninteresting. The exposition was extraneous at best and sometimes even distracting, if not irritating, as the text boxes often interfered with the vibrant imagery that was doing a fine job of telling the story all by itself.
That said, the stories themselves felt somewhat juvenile, predictable, and lacking gravitas. Again, this might be personal preference as I tend to like more Gothic and atmospheric horror, where the story disturbs or unsettles on a deeper, psychological level. The stories here seemed to fit the more slasher-style of horror, with plenty of blood and gore splattering the pages. The few stories I did find more enjoyable tended to involve less spilled guts and more creepy aspects, but they were few and far between. There were also a couple of stories with BIPOC and disabled characters that made me raise my eyebrows and question the intent of the author. I would defer to readers who share those identities to decide whether or not these stories were problematic, but they didn’t sit well with me.
Overall, I can see the appeal of a project like this and I think the art was well-rendered, but the images were ultimately let down by a narrative style that detracted from the panels.
*A PDF Arc was provided by the author for honest review.
Review By Xan van Rooyen
