chelseamartinez's review against another edition
3.0
Set in the era of Swamp Thing, this book puts together some expendable characters and throws some more crucial fleshed-out weirdos together; Giulietta, with a Janet Leigh pixie cut and hospital gown fashions, the exposed-brain fish creature of the title, some chatty crabs, some honest cops, etc. The section at the end on iambic pentameter not-withstanding, the jokey dialogues between the hero and the crabs was distracting to me but the story could totally be a movie; I think I'm not enough of a romantic for monster flicks though (and... I guess possibly The Shape of Water has done a lot of what's here, though I didn't see it). As the Foreward notes though, the line work is very striking.
daynpitseleh's review against another edition
3.0
I received this from Edelweiss and Dark Horse in exchange for an honest review.
This is a quirky love story about a Shakespeare loving sea monster - has it caught your interest yet? If that description sounds like something you would like, definitely check this one out. The artwork is awesome, and it's funny, sweet, and retro.
This is a quirky love story about a Shakespeare loving sea monster - has it caught your interest yet? If that description sounds like something you would like, definitely check this one out. The artwork is awesome, and it's funny, sweet, and retro.
rouver's review
4.0
A sea monster feeds on lustful young teenagers who wander too close to the water; but he's more than a scary face. He searches for the person, his true love, who has been throwing tales from the bard into the ocean, message-in-a-bottle style. He speaks in iambic pentameter and is always accompanied by his wise-cracking side-kick crabs (since they, too, enjoy snacking on dead flesh, of course). It's a quirky fun read & I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who already enjoys graphic novels. My *only* complaint is that it wasn't done in color...but likely this was due to monetary reasons since this is the author's debut novel. Hopefully he is successful enough with this delightful tale that his publisher will go ahead & splurge on color next time.
capital_letter's review against another edition
3.0
Found it a bit hard to follow at first, but it definitely grew on me as I got used to the chaotic (but lovely!) black-and-white art.
Would probably give it a 3.5 if I could.
Would probably give it a 3.5 if I could.
nnebeluk's review against another edition
3.0
An exciting concept that is rushed quickly is how'd I'd describe this book. There's just too much going on with too many different, unique characters to make sense of it all. The main love story is rushed, it's consequences never fully explored. It's a book that asks us to believe in the power of love but doesn't give us anything to love in its self
theartolater's review
3.0
What do you get when you have a sea monster that is inspired by Shakespeare to stop being such a monster and start loving? Dear Creature answers that, and with overall mixed results. It's part noir, part love story, part Beach Blanket Bingo, part mystery, so it's mostly all over the place, and that's ultimately detrimental. I love ambitious books, especially when they're graphic novels, but this one was perhaps too ambitious and felt unfocused even though the plot was tight.
Overall, a disappointment, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Overall, a disappointment, but not necessarily in a bad way.
cetian's review
4.0
This is an interesting meeting of influences. There is something from 40's/50's monster movies, an impressive black and white drawing technique, a lead character that is reminiscent of John, the character from "Brave New World", who only expresses himself quoting Shakespeare. It is a wonderful mixing up of genres and styles, from eras in which male/female roles were supposed to be very assymetrical. Like with other stories, the figure of the male agressor is mixed with the figure of the male saviour. Male strength being characterized, at the same time, as a threat and as the main hero quality. This is something, though, that can be argued against, since the creature has no visible genitals.
In this case, what is interesting is the hipersensitivity of the creature, his Shakespearean view of the world. This is like a reverse Frankenstein monster: in Mary Shelley's story, the creature cannot stand having been created and hates the humanity it will never be a part of and becomes a threat to it. Here, the creature seems uncreated (there is no story about its origin) and looks to humanity with awe, trying to stop itself from being harmful. Another deligthful inversion is the one from the title. In "Dear creature", creature is the term the monster uses to refer to humans.
In this case, what is interesting is the hipersensitivity of the creature, his Shakespearean view of the world. This is like a reverse Frankenstein monster: in Mary Shelley's story, the creature cannot stand having been created and hates the humanity it will never be a part of and becomes a threat to it. Here, the creature seems uncreated (there is no story about its origin) and looks to humanity with awe, trying to stop itself from being harmful. Another deligthful inversion is the one from the title. In "Dear creature", creature is the term the monster uses to refer to humans.
kimberwolf's review against another edition
3.0
This dark and delightfully cheesy story in graphic novel form is something you might have expected to find in the old Weird Tales Magazine. A sea monster with formal and flowery speech patterns longs to stop dining on beach-goers and instead wishes to find his true love. A chorus of wise-cracking crabs are his constant companions as he searches for the woman who has been throwing corked bottles filled with pages from Shakespeare's plays into the water, which he has salvaged and enjoyed. His forays onto land cause all kinds of excitement as he attempts to fulfill his dreams.
Jonathan case wrote and illustrated this highly entertaining graphic novel. The artwork is done all in black and white, no gray shading, and it's stark, lovely, and comical, as is the story. At 180+ pages, it makes for a couple of fun hours of reading.
Jonathan case wrote and illustrated this highly entertaining graphic novel. The artwork is done all in black and white, no gray shading, and it's stark, lovely, and comical, as is the story. At 180+ pages, it makes for a couple of fun hours of reading.
adubrow's review
3.0
(Originally posted @ CSI:Librarian.)
2.5 Stars - There is no denying that this graphic novel is full of quirky moments that are equal parts charming and just plain odd. At the same time I feel like a lot of the elements of Dear Creature added cleverness and took away oppourtunities for solid characterization.
As much as I wanted to, it was all but impossible for me to like Grue. Usually I don’t mind monstrous main protagonists that devour ordinary people or those who spout Shakeapearen-esque phrases, but Grue was a sloppy eater to put it mildly and his iambic pentameter got old quickly. I liked how much he loved finding Shakespeare’s plays in bottles. I loved the Cyrano de Bergerac/Shakespeare meets Grendel/Caliban vibe. All of that seemed great in terms of a starting place, but Grue never grew. He just remained delightfully deranged and completely unaware of what consequences any of his actions had. None of his decisions carried a lot of emotional weight or range either, whether it was deciding to give up eating people or to court a very troubled Guiletta.
That isn’t to say that I didn’t like the graphic novel or didn’t get the references to Shakespeare, but I didn’t have as enjoyable a time as I would have wished. I definitely preferred the snappy remarks from his crab companions and “An Invertebrate’s Guide to Iambic Pentameter” to Grue’s seemingly random hyper spur of the moment life changes. I really enjoyed the black and white illustrations. I loved the sherriff’s storyline as he worked to do right even if it meant turning in his badge and pissing everyone else off. But I just felt like the main storyline never struck the right chord with me.
In conclusion, a decent read, but one that is ultimately saddled with a main character with too much quirk and too little attention span.
2.5 Stars - There is no denying that this graphic novel is full of quirky moments that are equal parts charming and just plain odd. At the same time I feel like a lot of the elements of Dear Creature added cleverness and took away oppourtunities for solid characterization.
As much as I wanted to, it was all but impossible for me to like Grue. Usually I don’t mind monstrous main protagonists that devour ordinary people or those who spout Shakeapearen-esque phrases, but Grue was a sloppy eater to put it mildly and his iambic pentameter got old quickly. I liked how much he loved finding Shakespeare’s plays in bottles. I loved the Cyrano de Bergerac/Shakespeare meets Grendel/Caliban vibe. All of that seemed great in terms of a starting place, but Grue never grew. He just remained delightfully deranged and completely unaware of what consequences any of his actions had. None of his decisions carried a lot of emotional weight or range either, whether it was deciding to give up eating people or to court a very troubled Guiletta.
That isn’t to say that I didn’t like the graphic novel or didn’t get the references to Shakespeare, but I didn’t have as enjoyable a time as I would have wished. I definitely preferred the snappy remarks from his crab companions and “An Invertebrate’s Guide to Iambic Pentameter” to Grue’s seemingly random hyper spur of the moment life changes. I really enjoyed the black and white illustrations. I loved the sherriff’s storyline as he worked to do right even if it meant turning in his badge and pissing everyone else off. But I just felt like the main storyline never struck the right chord with me.
In conclusion, a decent read, but one that is ultimately saddled with a main character with too much quirk and too little attention span.