What Jeff Read: Graphic Novel Reviews (The Nice House on the Lake, Monica, Night Fever)
So, contrary to popular belief, I do read from time to time. Sure, it’s not quite as common an occurrence as it used to be when I was a youngster devouring Goosebumps books or Animorphs, or (when I was even younger) The Bailey School Kids, but it still does happen.
When I was around 12 years old, I got really into graphic novels. I still remember the first two that I ever read: Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 and Batman: The Long Halloween. I bought them to read on an airplane since we were going on a family vacation. I think it was to Arizona. Anyways, after that I was hooked on comic books for a few years, and I amassed quite the graphic novel collection.
I sort of fell out of reading for a while there, but I’ve been getting more into it over the last year. As far as books are concerned, I read a lot of Freida McFadden in 2023. I really enjoy her fast-paced, page turning mystery/thrillers. When it comes to graphic novels, I’ll research what’s supposed to be worthwhile before picking something up.
As a result, I think that it’s time to expand the post categories on this website to include short reviews of what I read. For the most part, I’m going to keep these graphic novel and/or book reviews pretty short. I’m planning to always write-up a few short reviews at once, unless something is particularly worthy of a lengthier post.
With that being said, let’s get to our first ever What Jeff Read post.
The Nice House on the Lake: The Deluxe Edition
Written by James Tynion IV, Illustrated by Alvaro Martino Bueno
This deluxe edition compiles the entire 12-issue “first cycle” of James Tynion’s psychological horror comic. This is a series where I think it’s best to go in knowing as little as possible about what’s actually going on besides the initial story setup. Basically, ten friends are invited to the titular “nice house on the lake” (which is, in fact, a very nice house) by their sort of weird friend, Walter, who was friends with each of them to varying degrees at different points throughout his life.
The genre is definitely psychological horror with some science fiction mixed in, though I’d assert that it’s more unsettling ideas and thoughts that arise from the story as opposed to being a terrifying read. I’ve tried a few other comics by Tynion, namely Something is Killing the Children and W0rldtr33, and wasn’t able to get into either of those titles. I did enjoy The Nice House on the Lake though, and I think it’s his most accessible work.
There are a lot of characters we’re introduced to immediately in The Nice House on the Lake, and I felt like it was a little overwhelming and confusing, but once I got further into the graphic novel it was definitely a page-turner. The story somewhat, but not completely, wraps up after these 12 issues. Overall, I found it to be a solid, worthwhile graphic novel in a genre that’s not typically focused on in the medium.
Grade: 8/10
Monica
By Daniel Clowes
If you’re looking for something truly unique to read, look no further than Daniel Clowes’ Monica. Monica tells the story of its title character, but it’s not told in a linear fashion. Instead, the graphic novel’s different chapters only sometimes feature Monica, and, in other chapters, we see stories that Monica has come up with. Monica is also not necessarily a reliable narrator so it’s not clear what’s actually going on.
The book’s chapters also fall into different genres, like romance, horror, and the supernatural. This is definitely a story where it’s up to the reader to uncover what’s really happening and what the entire work itself is really about. As such, Monica is a graphic novel that merits multiple reads.
Clowes is well-regarded as a storyteller and artist, with Ghost World being the work of his I was previously familiar with. As a stand-alone graphic novel, I really enjoyed the uniqueness of Monica, even though I don’t think this is a book for everyone. In some ways, it feels just as much like a piece of art as it does a story.
Grade: 8/10
Night Fever
Written by Ed Brubaker, Illustrated by Sean Phillips
I am a huge fan of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips and I read just about everything this writer/illustrator team creates. Sleeper is probably one of my top two or three favorite comics ever and, as far as crime comics are concerned, I don’t think you can do better than some of the pair’s work on Criminal. With that being said, Night Fever, a self-contained, one-shot graphic novel might be my least favorite work out of everything Brubaker and Phillips have ever come up with.
That’s not to say that Night Fever is awful – it’s not. There’s just not much here. The graphic novel is like an outline or first draft of a story that still needs a lot of work. There might have been something worth reading here eventually, but it’s definitely not on these finished pages we’ve been presented with.
Night Fever is a quick read, and when I completed it, I almost wondered if I had missed something – if there had been some sort of twist or revelation that I somehow hadn’t gotten. I don’t think that’s the case though. It’s just a super basic story that’s fairly weak overall with some good Sean Phillips art (as you’d expect). There’s so much worthwhile work that Brubaker and Phillips have created, but I’m sad to say that Night Fever isn’t something I’d recommend.
Grade: 5/10