Staff Pick
Richard Sala's graphic novels are the love children of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, but funnier, scarier, and sexier. This book contains three novellas, with Sala's wonderful cartooning, sense of adventure, and hilarity and terror all together. Recommended By Doug C., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The master of macabre returns with three quirky, campy new graphic novellas, collected in one volume!
In the graphic novella "The Amazing Adventures of Fantomina Fantomella," the titular heroine is presumed dead — but the mob realizes they were wrong when she visits her vengeance on the city's evildoers. In "Cave Girls Of The Lost World," a group of stranded schoolgirls realizes they are cut off from civilization in a land forgotten by time and rife with dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and apemen — but these intelligent, brave, and resourceful women are ready to rumble! This adventure story is a showcase for Sala's lovely watercolor artwork and his love of B-movies. The third and final section is "Monsters Illustrated." A young woman enters a strange old bookstore and begins reading a catalog of monsters. This "book within a book" is presented with watercolor and ink drawings. What will happen when she reaches the end?
Review
"Richard Sala was wonderfully unique. It was all there in everything he did, his love of old monster movies, the pulps, mystery and horror in general — the good stuff and the terrible — wore it all like a badge of honor and did wonderful things with it. I miss him." Mike Mignola
Review
"Sala's work is like a fusion of Hergé and Charles Addams, yielding a simple, cartoon-like style that makes his moments of gothic horror all the more disturbing." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Brilliantly atmospheric art, full of shadows and spikes." Booklist
Review
"Garishly clad villains, B-movie monsters, and femme fatales abound....A genuinely fun, energetic collection, a lasting testament to Sala's distinct talent." Library Journal
Synopsis
First up in Poison Flowers is "House of the Blue Dwarf," a 125-page thriller featuring master criminal the Bloody Cardinal, who leaves a wake of mayhem and madness everywhere he goes. "Monsters Illustrated" is a fun, 64-page monster movie riff that showcases Sala's visual imagination. A young woman in a dusty bookstore reads a strange bestiary -- the "book within a book" showcases a series of Sala's gorgeous watercolor and ink drawings. But when she gets to the end, she finds the bookseller drives a hard bargain. "Cave Girls Of The Lost World" is a campy, 60-page romp about a team of young women whose plane crashes in a land forgotten by time and rife with dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and apemen -- but these intelligent, brave, and resourceful women are ready to rumble Rounding out the book is "The Amazing Adventures of Fantomina Fantomella," a 45-page graphic novella of violence and non-stop action. Priest and his mob thought Fantomina was dead. So how is it that she's come back with a vengeance? Poison Flowers & Pandemonium is a perfect showcase of Sala's gorgeous watercolor artwork and his love of B-movie horror, silent film-era archetypes, and femmes fatale.
About the Author
Richard Sala (1954-2020) grew up in Chicago. He had an MFA from Mills College, collaborated with Lemony Snicket, and illustrated a Jack Kerouac script. He spent his time in Berkeley, CA.