House

While on my extended vacation leaf-peeping in new England, I read Josh Simmon's graphic novel "House." It's one of the many books published by Fantagraphics and up for various awards.

Anyway, the book follows 3 teenagers as they explore an old mansion. Ever seen that YouTube video where the Russian Guy Jackie-Chans through an abandoned apartment complex in St. Petersburg? Well this story is kind of like that. Two young ladies, one gothy, one waspy, and a dorky kinda looking dude with headlamps and backpacks start exploring an amazingly complex house. They roof walk across mansion and find a quarry where other smaller houses have been swallowed by the water. The scene is pretty stunning. That's the happy part. Just about when they are in the dark tunnel descending a staircase you think, "Is that staircase going to hold their weight" is when all the hell breaks loose.

The art in the book is well rendered and intricately interesting. Simmon's creates a beautiful and sinister setting for our poor explorers. It took about 20 minutes to follow the wordless story, which kinda disappointed me. I wanted to spend more time with the characters, but oh well, maybe the story was just so compelling I had to read it fast.

Anyway, don't go in there without a rope.