Graphic novel: Noir/Thriller/Horror, Contains Gore, Obscenity, Adult implications, and Disturbing imagery.
This review contains spoilers
When I was very young, I got a fungal infection in my ear from prolonged exposure to water. I have had trouble with congestion in my ears since that point. Usually, it’s not too bad, but sometimes it can feel very irritating.
Silverfish by David Lapham is a graphic novel that takes advantage of our paranoia regarding our ears. You think it’s disgusting to think about earwigs crawling into your ears? It’s about ten times worse when its hundreds of tiny fish (which resemble viperfish) crawling to your brain.
(The above is a Viperfish, in case you were unaware)
Silverfish is neither about hundreds of tiny viperfish nor about a man with a fish head, as would be indicated by the drawing on the back of the book. It’s not really about the carnival in the background of the cover either. It’s mostly about teenagers solving a mystery, which sounds worse than it really is.
The art-style is black and white and realistic with very little style. The best of the artwork revolves around the “fish” but we’ll get to that later. The story is where the book shines.
The basic gist is that Mia, the chief of police’s daughter in a small New Jersey town in the late 70s, doesn’t trust her step-mother. As a result, she goes snooping through her things and nabs her address book. She, along with some of her friends, go down the rabbit hole of contacting everyone in the book and discover that Mia’s step-daughter has been hiding some things.
This is one of those plots where the characters have to be a little bit stupid or petty in order for the action to happen. This is also one of those plots where most of the teenage characters are fairly stereotypical. If you are less able to stand that stuff then me, you might root for the antagonist, Daniel, a misogynistic serial killer who can hear fish speaking to him in his ears and brain.
Daniel’s ability to flip between charming and composed to raving lunatic is impressive at forcing some nervousness out of you. The scenes in which we see his delusions of the inside of his skull border on body horror, but surprisingly, Daniel’s insanity (which the book is named after) is only mentioned three or four times.
Instead, the story is a thriller about Mia, her little sister, and her friends opening Pandora’s box and then having their lives threatened. It does a good job of humanizing Mia’s step-mother, whose story is bordering on tragic.
I wish there could have been more humanizing of Daniel. It’s not hard to understand him, but it would have been nice to know more about why he is the way he is. We’re left unsure after the big reveal about Daniel and Mia’s step-mom whether he always could hear these fish, or if his interaction with Mia’s step-mom caused him to fall even deeper into his psychosis.
But perhaps that’s for the best. I did worry about Mia and her little sister when the going got tough, even if Mia’s friends are much less charismatic. I would have loved it if the story was more psychedelic madness regarding the “fish”, as it’s such a unique idea that I feel more should have been done with it. There’s enough good imagery though, that it isn’t a huge concern. I think I was just expecting a different story.
I read the book in one sitting, at a little less than an hour. I would say that reading it twice would be enjoyable. Given the current price (18.99 on Amazon) I would recommend waiting for the price to drop if you want the hardback cover.
I would say that it’s Good, bordering on Bad, but with enough subtly and psychology (even behind the less interesting characters) that it never felt annoying.
(The next review, I promise will definitely, positively not be of a graphic novel that contains sea-life imagery)
Awful – Bad – Good – Great – Brilliant
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