The Mysteries

I was super excited hearing that Bill Waterson — yes Bill Waterson of Calvin & Hobbes fame— had a new graphic novel out. Later, I was told that it wasn't that good, so I tamped down my excitement and my expectations. I found it at the library so it didn't cost me anything.

Had I not adjusted my expectations I'd probably be in the two star camp.

I don't love the art style and the story is kinda vague that you can make it what you want.
I scored it a four because I liked the theme, possible message(s), and what I perceived as tongue in cheek humor. It didn't take itself too seriously.

What?

This book made me feel so small. This would be a beautiful stop motion short film as well!

I could picture this as a stop-motion short film. Striking images for sure.

I was expecting something new. Not quite expecting something that short and abstract after “years of collaboration” in the blurb. Will need to read again.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s The Mysteries About?

Here’s the Publisher’s Description, if I try, I’m going to end up telling the whole, brief story:

In a fable for grown-ups by cartoonist Bill Watterson, a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.

I’m not going to say more, even though I think we could use a teensy-weensy expansion to really sell the story. But the story isn’t the important part because…

WOW. The Art!

This is why you pick up this book. Period. You’re curious about what Watterson’s been up to for the last umpteen years, how his art has changed and developed. What’s got his attention? And we won’t really know much given how short this book is and how atypical it is, but still, that curiosity is there.

Maybe you know John Kascht’s work and want to see what he’s been dabbling in.

Either way, this is why you come to this book—and you will be well rewarded for it.

I’m not going to try to explain how these black-and-white images capture so much—and yet, leave so much to the imagination. But I’ve already gone through this book a few times just to see the art without caring about the words (which, yeah, I’ve read twice—but not as often). There are a couple of samples here.

So, what did I think about The Mysteries?

Honestly, the story doesn’t do much for me. It’s fine—good enough to justify your time, but that’s it. It feels like the first 50-70% of a Neil Gaiman story (but told in far fewer words). Honestly, anyone who described something like that to me would be enough to get me to pick it up—but I wanted a little more from Watterson.

But the more I think about it, I’m always going to want more from Watterson than he seems willing to give. So I should shut up and be happy about it.

I cannot say enough good things about these images, though—the visual look of the book as a whole, either. I’m so glad I got this just for that experience. And it’s an experience I can repeat frequently.

I’m not going to give this a rating, because…I don’t know. I can’t assign a number to this. I’m just happy to see that Watterson is still out there doing creative things and hope he decides to share some more in the years to come.

Its a story about something long forgotten and something lost. Really makes you think where did the magic of our world go?

I read this without having any idea what it was about going in. The words are a fast read but you can linger on the art, which is beautiful. It is certainly a fairy tale for adults.

Look at the length of the book and judge whether the cost is worth it to you, if you consider a book's worth a function largely of how long it takes you to read it. It is a very fast read. I did not regret spending $20 on this, but I think a lot of people might if they're expecting lots of dense text for this length.

I pre-ordered a while ago this without knowing anything about it other than Bill Watterson was involved.

I loved Calvin & Hobbes as a kid, although I'm not a die hard fan and I don't own the books. As such I haven't reread them in a while. However his name was enough for me to check out his first new work in forever.

I promptly forgot about this book until I got the ship notification this week.

It's incredibly short. Some pages have a single sentences. At most there are 2 or 3. Each pair of pages has text on the left and a picture on the right. It's only 72 pages long. So there really isn't a lot to it.

I enjoyed it, but probably would have preferred to simply borrow it from a library to read once.