Spectacle: Book One ARC Review!

Spectacle volume one is a new multi-volume series by well known web comic artist and writer Megan Rose Gedris. This is Gedris' debut graphic novel and is due for release publication on the 22nd May 2018!

Spectacle is about twin sisters, Anna and Kat, in the Samson Brothers Circus. For twins they are very different, Kat is a sleep-all-day, spiritual, knife throwing kind of girl and Anna is a early rising, sceptical, fake psychic engineer. However, things change for Anna, in terms of her belief, when she finds Kat murdered with her own throwing knives and comes back as a ghost. From there we follow Anna and the ghost of Kat as they try to figure out who killed Kat and what will happen when they do.

I really enjoyed reading Spectacle, it was quick, fun and at times a little dark. There were a lot of elements and concepts that I thought were great in this story so far, mainly Anna's mechanical fortune teller, her Conjecture Engine, which predicts the future with statistics of the past. This science-y concept of a psychic using maths to get answers to the future was really unique, something I hadn't heard of before, and was done subtly, or rather normally because it is the norm for Anna, it wasn't overly exaggerated or Steampunk-ed.

The story is a fun one, although you have murder and a creepy douche of a deputy sheriff, but I think for me the strong point with this novel is the art. This was more of  a visual ride when reading it; the colouring with the environment of the circus is like a beautiful bunch of slightly dying flowers (I meant that as a compliment, poetic, no?) the purples and green's make fantastical night time scenes and it all mixes wonderfully together. I admired the lettering artistry of narration, written in aesthetically pleasing font, although I will say there were some moments where it was written so small I had to really squint to see it.......that or maybe I'm excusing my ageing process?

Speaking of art, I completely fell in love with the chapter pages, like most comics they were less cartoon-y, like interval book covers and the ones in Spectacle are gorgeous.

When it comes to the breaks and chapters in Spectacle we aren't ever really left on a gasp face (😯), each one is very subtle, and makes you hmm, trying to figure out with Anna who might have motive and what may be haunting her other than her sister. Each cliff hanger, or rather sub problem linked to murder, means that you are continuing on, yes to find it out who was the killer, but mainly just for story rather than being all about the answers.

I think this story has a long way to go in terms of the speed it's driving the story, traditionally taking one suspicion at a time, but with clues and issues that can interrupt that. There's a slow but important set up here and part of me is kind of hoping that volume one is the set up and the pace will kick in with volume 2.

Spectacle  has the range and potential to have some originality and aside from it's story, there are also a huge collection of diverse characters, designed and portrayed in this way inside both friendship and circus life and that is something that agreed with me.

Spectacle  can go from whimsical to dark very quickly and with mystery, ghosts, demons, freaks, science and sisterhood, this lavender visual experience is worth the read for fans of quick read comics and Gedris herself.

Spectacle: Book One

😵😵😶

The rating system is out of 5 dizzy faces! 😵

Mouth-less faces mean 1/2! 😶

I was sent an ARC of this graphic novel from Oni Press via NetGalley, massive thank you to them!

Top images taken from:
http://www.spectaclecomic.com/images/SPECT_0101.jpg
http://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/interior_spreads/9781620104927/spectacle-vol-1-9781620104927.in01.jpg