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Graveyard Quest
Running the family business in the shadow of your father can be a drag, especially when you’re a gravedigger and that shadow is actually your dad’s overly critical ghost. From creator KC Green’s hugely popular webcomic Gunshow, Graveyard Quest follows a blue-collar skeleton and his mole buddy on their journey to Hell and back to retrieve his most prized possession. It’s a story about the things we do for love, and the many mistakes we make along the way.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 23, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 17, 2024
This book was quite an acid trip. Based on KC Green’s webcomic, "Gunshow", his 59 strips about a petulant gravedigger with mommy issues have been turned into this unique novel, with an added epilogue bonus.
The gravedigger (no name given) has inherited the family business of you guessed it-gravedigging. He keeps his beloved mother’s bones in a box near his bed so he can converse with her, much to the dismay of his father’s angry ghost. His father steals the bones, sending the gravedigger on a quest to retrieve them from the Underworld. So begins a journey that has him meet a wise mole, train bandits who want to hijack their way to Heaven, a town of worms that live off the rot of the corpses he buries, Charon the river Styx conductor, and the creature Beelzebub who desperately wants to go back to Hell. How do all these expletive-spewing characters relate to his odyssey? Well…let’s just say it’s the journey, not the destination for the gravedigger to find closure with his father.
Green’s art style is primitive at best with a simple color scheme. The cover has a different art style than the story inside (turns out it was inspired by the videogame Fester’s Quest). The gravedigger’s eyes aren’t big enough and it looks like he is wearing lipstick on the cover, and is rather off-putting, but as none of Green’s art is appealing in a traditional way, I guess it doesn’t really matter. The style of art and storytelling is reminiscent of the tv cartoon show "Chowder". In fact, Charon reminded me of this awesome clip from the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXNEz...
So if you have a warped sense of humor, like to swear and are familiar with "Gunshow" then this book is for you!
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2016/04/2...
The gravedigger (no name given) has inherited the family business of you guessed it-gravedigging. He keeps his beloved mother’s bones in a box near his bed so he can converse with her, much to the dismay of his father’s angry ghost. His father steals the bones, sending the gravedigger on a quest to retrieve them from the Underworld. So begins a journey that has him meet a wise mole, train bandits who want to hijack their way to Heaven, a town of worms that live off the rot of the corpses he buries, Charon the river Styx conductor, and the creature Beelzebub who desperately wants to go back to Hell. How do all these expletive-spewing characters relate to his odyssey? Well…let’s just say it’s the journey, not the destination for the gravedigger to find closure with his father.
Green’s art style is primitive at best with a simple color scheme. The cover has a different art style than the story inside (turns out it was inspired by the videogame Fester’s Quest). The gravedigger’s eyes aren’t big enough and it looks like he is wearing lipstick on the cover, and is rather off-putting, but as none of Green’s art is appealing in a traditional way, I guess it doesn’t really matter. The style of art and storytelling is reminiscent of the tv cartoon show "Chowder". In fact, Charon reminded me of this awesome clip from the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXNEz...
So if you have a warped sense of humor, like to swear and are familiar with "Gunshow" then this book is for you!
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2016/04/2...
July 5, 2016
It's funny, I had two false starts with this, I read a tiny bit, did not feel "grabbed" and I got distracted, ... twice.
Then the third time it clicked, I loved the art from the get-go, but it was not until this third time that the writing "spoke" to me.
And I have to say, it provoked such deep emotion from me, that I am pretty astounded.
I don't want to say much more than that, but though this looks like it possesses no depth, ...
it made me confront some pretty heavy emotions.
Wow.
Powerful stuff.
Oh yeah, did I mention this is funny?
Then the third time it clicked, I loved the art from the get-go, but it was not until this third time that the writing "spoke" to me.
And I have to say, it provoked such deep emotion from me, that I am pretty astounded.
I don't want to say much more than that, but though this looks like it possesses no depth, ...
it made me confront some pretty heavy emotions.
Wow.
Powerful stuff.
Oh yeah, did I mention this is funny?
October 26, 2016
I received this book in a subscription box so I didn't know anything about it going in. The art took some getting used too as its not a style I'm typically drawn too. After a while I got used to the art and that helped the story flow a bit better for me.
The story itself is very simple, it follows the gravedigger from his home to hell and back again. Along the way he meets new people and learns a little about himself and his family. The writing is a little choppy, particularly in the beginning but by the end of the book the writing comes together nicely.
It's a very easy graphic novel to read, it's not very word heavy and the art is quite simple. Overall it was cute but not one I'd come back to multiple times.
The story itself is very simple, it follows the gravedigger from his home to hell and back again. Along the way he meets new people and learns a little about himself and his family. The writing is a little choppy, particularly in the beginning but by the end of the book the writing comes together nicely.
It's a very easy graphic novel to read, it's not very word heavy and the art is quite simple. Overall it was cute but not one I'd come back to multiple times.
May 28, 2021
First of all, I loved the graphics in this! Super expressive characters and scenes—really well done.
I still have no idea if there was a moral to the story but it was enjoyable.
Quick, fun, easy read but probably wouldn't read again.
I still have no idea if there was a moral to the story but it was enjoyable.
Quick, fun, easy read but probably wouldn't read again.
August 29, 2016
An odd one for sure. Subverts a bit of that 'epic questing can do no wrong' narrative that many teen stories still have. The consequences work out here, but it's nice to have character call out when they need to be.
October 27, 2018
A webcomic from Gun Show artist K.C. Green, origin of the “This is Fine dog” meme, Graveyard Quest features all of the absurd pathos and grim humor of the poor, overly optimistic pooch. With its spooky, morbid, and bizarre subject matter and weird storyline, it’s the kind of thing I could see appealing to fans of certain brands of absurdist cartoons and video games.
The gravedigger, a skeletal but schlubby little dude, lives a lonely, uneventful life in the graveyard, digging graves and continuing with the family business. His only solace is his late mom’s bones, while the ghost of his dad berates the put upon laborer for his every move. When he finds her remains missing, he has no choice but to delve into the labyrinth under the graveyard, guided only by a mole and armed only with a shovel, to get back his mom and rid himself of his dad’s angry ghost. Only by making it to Hell can he accomplish his goals, but along his trip, things only get weirder and nothing seems to go right for our pallid hero.
Green draws great, expressive characters, the gravedigger’s frustration and rage at every ludicrous situation that befalls him apparent on his face, and his dialog is often hilarious, though occasionally the panels can become a bit too cramped, perhaps from its online origins. While containing some adult language and violence, the humor and subject matter makes it well suited to older teens, I feel.
I reviewed this and other Halloween theme comics at Reading Rainstorm, here . Check it out!
The gravedigger, a skeletal but schlubby little dude, lives a lonely, uneventful life in the graveyard, digging graves and continuing with the family business. His only solace is his late mom’s bones, while the ghost of his dad berates the put upon laborer for his every move. When he finds her remains missing, he has no choice but to delve into the labyrinth under the graveyard, guided only by a mole and armed only with a shovel, to get back his mom and rid himself of his dad’s angry ghost. Only by making it to Hell can he accomplish his goals, but along his trip, things only get weirder and nothing seems to go right for our pallid hero.
Green draws great, expressive characters, the gravedigger’s frustration and rage at every ludicrous situation that befalls him apparent on his face, and his dialog is often hilarious, though occasionally the panels can become a bit too cramped, perhaps from its online origins. While containing some adult language and violence, the humor and subject matter makes it well suited to older teens, I feel.
I reviewed this and other Halloween theme comics at Reading Rainstorm, here . Check it out!
January 2, 2021
I’ve been a big fan of KC Green ever since I saw one of his comics from “Gunshow” back in college and this book really hit the spot. It’s funny, dark, and full of hilarious characters along the way that make up for the gravediggers pathetically angry personality. That being said, the pay off in the end really makes up for his personality and I did say, “Aww...” audibly when I finished it! So quit reading my review and give this book a shot!
December 23, 2022
K.C. Green is one of my favorite authors / artists in the Graphic Novel / Webcomic space. His humor is wacky, unapologetic, and sometimes even (surprisingly) a bit deep. Graveyard Quest is an example of all of the above. It's short, self-contained, and leaves you feeling more content in life. I do recommend for those that struggle reading text-only books, and want something light and fast to read.
March 18, 2020
Pretty good graphic novel about a gravedigger trying to get to hell to retrieve the remains of his mother. Laugh out loud in funny a few places, which is par for the course for K. C. Green. I read the whole thing in maybe 20 minutes.
May 20, 2017
Love the homage to Fester's Quest with the cover
June 7, 2019
weird as hell. awesome as hell. good graveyard humor. puns intended
August 23, 2022
Dark Chaotic humor. The story is okay but the art, the humor, and the chaos are brilliant!
September 2, 2022
Halloween 2022 Marathon, comic 1 of 13.
December 31, 2024
The artist behind the “this is fine” meme is also an amazing writer! Heartfelt, cute adventure.
November 4, 2016
C
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2017
SEE-IT Award nominee. I'm giving these all 5 stars to avoid spoilers, and holding off on review until the award has been presented.
February 25, 2017
You can also find this review on Hedgehog Book Reviews!!
I received my copy of Graveyard Quest through the Paper Street Books monthly subscription box! I highly recommend it, as my October/November box had so many awesome spooky gifts.
The protagonist of this graphic novel is a gravedigger—he’s the owner of a family business that his late father passed down to him. Unfortunately, the gravedigger’s father will not leave him alone, even in spirit form, and subjects him to frequent visits and negative speeches. The gravedigger’s only solace is his mother’s bones. He talks to her skeleton every day and finds comfort in telling her all about his thoughts and mishaps. One day, the bones are gone and the gravedigger knows he must journey into Hell to get them back from his father, a man who seemingly gets all of his pleasure from making his life miserable. The gravedigger meets a lot of interesting creatures in the underworld, some who want to stop him and some who depend on him. Those bones are the only things that the gravedigger truly cherishes in his gloomy life, so he knows he must retrieve them.
WOW, I loved this graphic novel. It was easy to get through, but full of hidden treasures. The gravedigger meets many different types of people, animals, demons (?) and many of them were really cute.The illustrations were so fun and made the story even more enjoyable. I especially loved the mole, who helps the gravedigger along the way with his extraordinary sense of smell. Now that I think about it, I actually would like a retelling of the story in the mole’s POV…
My favorite part of the graphic novel is a section that shows the gravedigger on a boat with a hooded tour guide. I have a condition where anytime someone is going across a body of water with another person giving directions, I HAVE to point out the Dante reference. This time, finally, I wasn’t being unrealistic. The Dante reference is clear, as the gravedigger is literally being lead across a river to Hell. If you can’t tell, I really, really like Dante’s Inferno.
The entire storyline of this graphic novel was amazing. The beginning was just enough information to create a mysterious journey and KC Green reveals a little bit more about the gravedigger with each page. I thought the plot was wholesome and the ending made me very happy. I’m a huge fan of the gravedigger and the mole (he’s so cute, I can’t get over it)! I wish there were more volumes of their adventures.
This was a perfect Halloween read. I’m so glad that this book found its way into my hands and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cute but spooky themed adventure!
I received my copy of Graveyard Quest through the Paper Street Books monthly subscription box! I highly recommend it, as my October/November box had so many awesome spooky gifts.
The protagonist of this graphic novel is a gravedigger—he’s the owner of a family business that his late father passed down to him. Unfortunately, the gravedigger’s father will not leave him alone, even in spirit form, and subjects him to frequent visits and negative speeches. The gravedigger’s only solace is his mother’s bones. He talks to her skeleton every day and finds comfort in telling her all about his thoughts and mishaps. One day, the bones are gone and the gravedigger knows he must journey into Hell to get them back from his father, a man who seemingly gets all of his pleasure from making his life miserable. The gravedigger meets a lot of interesting creatures in the underworld, some who want to stop him and some who depend on him. Those bones are the only things that the gravedigger truly cherishes in his gloomy life, so he knows he must retrieve them.
WOW, I loved this graphic novel. It was easy to get through, but full of hidden treasures. The gravedigger meets many different types of people, animals, demons (?) and many of them were really cute.The illustrations were so fun and made the story even more enjoyable. I especially loved the mole, who helps the gravedigger along the way with his extraordinary sense of smell. Now that I think about it, I actually would like a retelling of the story in the mole’s POV…
My favorite part of the graphic novel is a section that shows the gravedigger on a boat with a hooded tour guide. I have a condition where anytime someone is going across a body of water with another person giving directions, I HAVE to point out the Dante reference. This time, finally, I wasn’t being unrealistic. The Dante reference is clear, as the gravedigger is literally being lead across a river to Hell. If you can’t tell, I really, really like Dante’s Inferno.
The entire storyline of this graphic novel was amazing. The beginning was just enough information to create a mysterious journey and KC Green reveals a little bit more about the gravedigger with each page. I thought the plot was wholesome and the ending made me very happy. I’m a huge fan of the gravedigger and the mole (he’s so cute, I can’t get over it)! I wish there were more volumes of their adventures.
This was a perfect Halloween read. I’m so glad that this book found its way into my hands and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cute but spooky themed adventure!
June 8, 2016
Disclosure: I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. There was no requirement to provide a review of the book.
I really enjoy the cartooning of KC Green. You may not recognize him by name, but you have definitely seen at least one of his cartoons after it's been given the meme treatment. He has a style and sense of humor that reminds me of the more off the wall cartoons of the 90s (think Ren and Stimpy). Graveyard Quest is one of this arcs from Gunshow I had not read in its entirety. It's a quick read, very satisfying comedically, and with a disarming emotional touch as well. This is definitely one I'm going to revisit.
Oni Press once again did a stellar job on this softcover collection of the original comic plus epilogue. The pages are glossy, the inks vivid and beautiful, and I will add that the book smells really great. Definitely a great choice for book huffers.
I really enjoy the cartooning of KC Green. You may not recognize him by name, but you have definitely seen at least one of his cartoons after it's been given the meme treatment. He has a style and sense of humor that reminds me of the more off the wall cartoons of the 90s (think Ren and Stimpy). Graveyard Quest is one of this arcs from Gunshow I had not read in its entirety. It's a quick read, very satisfying comedically, and with a disarming emotional touch as well. This is definitely one I'm going to revisit.
Oni Press once again did a stellar job on this softcover collection of the original comic plus epilogue. The pages are glossy, the inks vivid and beautiful, and I will add that the book smells really great. Definitely a great choice for book huffers.
May 28, 2016
Full Disclosure - I checked this out because I have fond memories of Fester's Quest for the NES, which was the inspiration for this cover. I have no familiarity with Gunshow, so I had no idea what to expect. The story's interesting, about a weird little guy who has serious parental issues and decides to go to Hell to face his ghost father for stealing his mother's bones.... It's weird and very quirky, and has some touching moments. The art definitely feels like a web comic. The story feels a lot like therapy over daddy issues (and mommy issues to some extent), but that doesn't discount that it makes for an interesting story. It's not something I'd recommend to most people, but it's not something I regret reading either.
December 12, 2015
Daddy issues. Mummy's boy. Using "drug" as the past tense for "drag". Just some of the things about this comic that irked me. I wasn't familiar with KC Green or the Gunshow webcomics before casually picking up a reading copy of "Graveyard Quest." It's very much in the same vein like the popular animated show Adventure Time, where the highly unusual events are as random as a toss of a coin, but it doesn't have quite the sharp slapstick humour like the cartoon show is so good at. The plot of the comic actually borders on being amateurishly annoying. So, while I did like the visual style of "Graveyard Quest," I'm happy to bury this away for good.
May 18, 2016
Read this back when it was being published online and have been periodically checking to see if it had been collected somewhere. Glad to see it in print, as it was squished in between Gunshow's regular fare online which made it pretty difficult to read and get other people to read.
Anyway, this is exactly my cup of tea. It's funny and at times creepy which is nicely reflected in the cartoony, yet occasionally unsettling, art style. The story is pretty straightforward but the charm of Green's humor and macabre setting really make it memorable. I'm definitely going to be picking up the paperback!
Anyway, this is exactly my cup of tea. It's funny and at times creepy which is nicely reflected in the cartoony, yet occasionally unsettling, art style. The story is pretty straightforward but the charm of Green's humor and macabre setting really make it memorable. I'm definitely going to be picking up the paperback!
May 31, 2024
What a shocker, a book about moving on from past traumas and failures that I thoroughly enjoyed. Contiuing not to read anything into it.
K.C. Green has been one of my favourite cartoonists since I started reading his long-defunct autobio comic Horribleville back in like 2007. He's got such an eye for hilarious expressions, and is hands down one of the funniest and most creative writers working in the business today.
If you've ever laughed at an unattributed "This is fine" meme you owe K.C... I'm gonna say at least ten dollars. Maybe more.
K.C. Green has been one of my favourite cartoonists since I started reading his long-defunct autobio comic Horribleville back in like 2007. He's got such an eye for hilarious expressions, and is hands down one of the funniest and most creative writers working in the business today.
If you've ever laughed at an unattributed "This is fine" meme you owe K.C... I'm gonna say at least ten dollars. Maybe more.
May 5, 2016
Ehhh i didnt like it
November 7, 2017
A very strange comic that I initially thought I would not enjoy (the artwork is not to my usual liking) but then I was pleasantly surprised and ended up enjoying it.
December 29, 2016
Reread this from one of my long-favorite webcomic artists. It's aged a little, but still good.
January 25, 2017
This was just incredibly stupid and I hate the art style. The only saving grace is the mole.
April 17, 2017
K.C. Green is a weird ass dude.
I mean that in the best possible way.
I mean that in the best possible way.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews