Blue In Green

by Ram V, Anand R.K. (Contributor)

The dark and haunting portrayal of a young musician’s pursuit of creative genius― the monstrous nature of which threatens to consume him as it did his predecessor half a century ago. From creators Ram V (Grafity’s Wall, These Savage Shores) and Anand RK (Grafity’s Wall), BLUE IN GREEN is an exploration of ambitions, expectations and the horrific depths of their spiraling pursuit.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Music, Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2020

About the author

Ram V (Ramnarayan Venkatesan) is an author and comic book writer from Mumbai, India. His comics career began in 2012 with the award-nominated Indian comic series, Aghori. A graduate of the City University of London’s Creative Writing MA, he has since created the critically acclaimed Black Mumba and the fantasy adventure series, Brigands.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a jazz saxophonist who is preoccupied with his absent grandfather, and with the possibility he might become the same, himself.

Everything about this book smells like it wants to be one of the great books that Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean produced together in the 80s.



And the art pretty much succeeds, it's lovely and vibrant (it's a bit sketchy on people's faces, but we won't let that spoil the fun), it moves and it shakes, like the jazz it portrays.

There's almost constant narration by the main character, and that's where the charm fades for me. It's a lot. It's not badly written, mind you, in fact it reads like dense prose, and that's where the problem lies. It's so dense, it blots out the art, it sucks the oxygen from the pages, as it were.



The story itself is okay, although I'm kind of tired of the way how comics portray a character's inner demons as actual demons (about whom you can then have the tiresome debate whether they really are demons etc.). Next writer to tackle this subject, please tackle it head on, we can take it.

(Received an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I picked up Blue in Green, I was in the middle of a painful extended reading slump. I'm still in the middle of it, really – but it didn't stand a chance against this miraculous book.

Blue in Green tells the tale of Erik Dieter, a once-promising saxophonist who has wound up as a teacher – something he sees as a failure, at least in comparison to the successful musical career he once thought he could have. At his mother's funeral, two things happen: he reconnects with an old flame, Vera; and he comes across a peculiar, menacing figure in his mother's study, holding a photograph. Afterwards, Erik thinks the person he saw might have been a nightmare, but he becomes fixated on the subject of the picture, a musician he doesn't recognise.

Inevitably, this mania leads Erik down a dark and strange path. The story is not a new idea (and to be quite honest, it's uncannily similar to the plot of the 'Spirit of Jazz' episode of The Mighty Boosh). But the stunning art elevates Blue in Green to something more than just another horror story about a man losing himself in obsession. It's endlessly beautiful; every page is a riot of colour, every detail is exquisitely rendered. Colours bleed and smudge into one another, lights seem to glow, and raindrops clinging to a window look so real you could touch them. The blurring neon of a streetlit night, the visual cacophony of faces in a crowd, the ghostly figures of people seen only in memories, the incomplete collage of a series of overlapping thoughts: all come to life as though they are not so much art as a live feed of the protagonist's mind's eye.

As soon as I finished reading the digital review copy, I went back to the beginning and read it again, and then I preordered a physical copy. I could never get tired of looking at this.

I received an advance review copy of Blue in Green from the publisher through Edelweiss.

TinyLetter | Linktree

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of a failed jazz musician sent spiraling after the death of his mother. They had a complicated relationship that he has trouble dealing with. At the same time, he both regains his inner muse along with his inner demons responsible for inspiring his music. I thought this moved very slowly. The book is more of an illustrated prose story with the art inspired by the panels as opposed to sequentially telling the story. The art is very much in the style of Bill Sienkiewicz, full of scratches and smudges. I did like the color palette. The art and story never clicked together for me though.

[Amanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blue in Green is a graphic novel that blends family drama, the strife of an artist, and horror all together into a nightmare wonderland tragedy. It's a truly interesting blend of genres and motifs that will catch your attention. The art will also catch your eye.

Let's start there, the art. It's incredible. It's a combination of rough and hurried pencil painted over with vibrant colors.

To continue to the full review complete with examples of the art please visit here: https://amanjareads.com/2021/02/05/bl...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Ram V really impresses me sometimes. From Many Deaths of Leila Star, These Savage Shores and now this. I really enjoy the way he writes. It can give you chills, it can also draw you in and get you lost in what’s going on. The art was an interesting style that reminded of the art in Department of Truth. I was digging it and it really fit the story telling. Our main character, Erik Dieter is a musician that never really tried to make it big and just teaches at the local college. He comes back home for his mother’s funeral and is dealing with some things pertaining to his relationship with his mom. Upon looking around the house he finds a photo of a man he doesn’t recognize. He feels this man must be important since his mom made sure she held on to it. It was a wonderful journey following Erik as he started to investigate who this man was and how what he discovered made him see he was dealing with the exact same situation. I know I’m being vague here but I really don’t want spoil the story as I really feel like this is worth checking out.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roll your eyes at the tiresome narration then strain them on the murky and scratchy Bill Sienkiewicz knock-off art as you try to make sense of this mess. Perhaps the descent of this fictional African American saxophonist wouldn't have failed so hard for me if I hadn't just read about the real deal in Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty and horror of jazz is that it’s an unpredictable challenge; both sides of this idea have been explored to brilliant effect from Whiplash to even Pixar’s Soul. In the case of Blue in Green – named after the track by Miles Davis – it shows how dark the pursuit of creative genius can be.

Upon hearing the news of his mother’s death, aspiring musician Erik Dieter returns to his childhood home for the funeral and clearing up the house that he and his sister grew up in. Due to having a complicated relationship with his mother from an early age, Erik hopes to get away from his past as soon as possible, despite a brief reunion with his schoolboy crush, Vera. However, when Erk finds a photograph of an unnamed jazz musician kept secretly by her mother, he decides to uncover a mystery with his own identity and strive for success.

The first impression that readers will have towards will be the art by Anand Rk, whose style reflects the highly stylised art by Bill Sienkiewicz. As dangerous as the abstract nature of this type of art can be, in that it could overshadow the story itself and is perhaps too surreal for some. That said, there is enough visual coherence to understand where the characters are, no matter how experimental the panel layouts are, as well as how every page introduces something visually new.

In terms of horror, there is a physical menace that crops here and there, and even go into Lovecraftian territory, but much of the horror is a psychological manner. In that classic horror movie sense, where our protagonist should make the smart decision of moving on whilst making reconciliations along the way with his sister and Vera, Erik tumbles down the rabbit hole that is the mystery of a man whose life was cut short over his own ambitions.

As Erik goes down a similar path, writer Ram V presents a moody tone that remains compelling throughout from the downbeat characterisation to the few revelations that ultimately sum up the book’s central message of family and how the mistakes of the past can affect a family. During the flashbacks of Erik’s childhood, they are presented through a combination of Ram V’s melancholic writing and Anand Rk’s beautifully surreal imagery (enhanced by John Pearson’s colouring) that encompasses the wonder and fear that children can go through.

Jazz and horror are a deadly but masterful mix that brings out the best from these creators as like the best horror narratives, Blue in Green is a cautionary tale about ambition and great expectations.

[Tom LA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it slowly and attentively, while listening to a cool jazz playlist, and loved it.
The art is magnificent and more than perfect for the jazzy theme. The colors are stunning. The page structure ideas - I think Ram V is the one who mainly comes up with them, cause he is also a very good artist - are also to die for. The writing manages to create the ideal mood for this kind of story, which is not a complicated story, but has several layers and manages to grab you by the neck at the pivotal moment, towards the end (not a spoiler) when the narrator talks about lives built around other people's fears. And who's life is not, at least in a small part, built around someone else (parents', usually) fears?

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.

I tried. I tried to get through this comic book. I hated the art in the beginning, but then the more it progressed I started to like the haphazardness of the art, it matched the freneticness of the Jazz in the story. The art got more luminous and intense with each page, but the story.. omg it jumped off the cliff and died for me halfway through.

Problems with the story, the main character is thoughtless, heartless.. his mother died and he seems detached yet obsessive. The inclusion of demons, literal demons against the main characters demons just watered down the point, then the addition of the crime aspects. It felt like it was doing too much. It felt like the author wanted everything to be in the story; the mystical, the past, the future, the alive, the undead, a missed love story, the fact that the main character feels like a loser. It was all happening at once. There was no real story to follow. He's a man who missed his opportunity at greatness tho he's a saxophone player. The story meanders and gets pretty boring, I just couldn't get through it. My stars are for the art.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blue In Green collects issues 1-5 of the Image Comics series written by Ram V, illustrated by Anand RK, and colored by John Pearson.

Erik Dieter is a struggling saxophonist who goes through an emotional spiral after the death of his abusive mother. Going through her possessions, Erik finds a photo of an unknown jazz musician from decades past that leads him down a rabbit hole of what this person meant to his mother’s past.

Have you ever read a book and knew you probably weren’t in the correct headspace to fully take in what you are reading? That is how I was feeling when I read Blue In Green. There is a lot going on with the main character suffering from depression and emotional issues with the death of an abusive mother. And then there is this added level of hallucinations that the main character experiences along the way. I was never extremely sure what was actually happening. The art has a very scratchy and sketchy painted look that does fit the tone of the book, but can make it difficult to comprehend what is happening from time to time.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoughtful, insightful interrogation of what death means to the living. 

The concepts resonated with me. I especially liked how the author's MC, Erik, mused:

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴.

I was curious about the art style at first, the initial figures sketched with multiple lines drawing down vertically, when it hit me: it represents our feelings, the weight of them, how they bleed. 

In other scenes, the artist renders people and scenery in a kind of courtroom sketch style, only much much better than the way I'm analogizing it.

As the story dives deeper, the thoughtful musician MC excavates his experience of loss, and places it next to the daily preoccupations of our minds. It turns out that what we usually focus on is terribly shallow and generally meaningless. Grief is a place which can provide both fugue and sharp perspective. 

We surrender some of our identity due to loss: taking on a new name for ourselves: the bereaved, or worse: orphan or widow. In both life and death, we are most often identified by our relation to someone else: brother, mother, or by what we do or what we've accomplished. How would we describe ourselves without referring to any of those ties?

Grief isn't just sadness, or even anger. It's as if all of the emotions flood the zone of our interior, like a spigot on full-blast. It should therefore not surprise us that the high pressure nature of grief can cause us to lash out, to direct that fire hose of mixed emotions right at those closest to us, both literally and figuratively.

Of course, everyone grieves differently. For some, the hydrant is stuck. Instead of a fire hose of emotions, some feel only numbness, or more accurately, an absence of feeling. A "not there" feeling can leave us untethered. A severed connection leaves us wondering who we are now. *Nothing* might be thought of as an absence, but it still has a shape, and sometimes, a weight to it. 

Erik sees the world through the lens of music: sometimes melodic, often dissonant. He realizes that just as certain music can feel haunting, our memories and the lost potential of our lives can feel haunting. Was this who we wanted to be?

The authors' description of Erik's emotional turmoil is rendered perfectly, both in images and often poetic words.

The story also reaffirms what I have often witnessed in my own life: a sister taking up all the practical details that need taking care of, partly because it needs to be done, and partly as a coping mechanism. Brothers tend to need an environment with zero expectations of them, so they can emotionally process right away. Neither approach is right or wrong, but inevitably this sharp contrast can cause explosive conflict. At the same time, the survivors are also busy examining the state of their own lives.

Erik has the same main worry that most of us share: Am I leading a mediocre life? Also, its corollary: what if I missed out on my original destiny?

The story is evocative, tragic, and an excellent example of both intergenerational trauma, and the ultimate cost of our dreams.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie zgadzam się na opisywanie tego komiksu w kategoriach horroru. To dla mnie oczywiste, że demoniczna postać jest jedynie metaforą, figurą, która pokazuje, że talent to nie tylko dar, ale przede wszystkim przekleństwo. Zresztą autorzy ładnie to w pewnym momencie puentują, cytując obiegowe opinie o uznanych artystach, którzy odeszli i sugerując, że w tle istniała jakaś siła napędowa. Koło się zatacza, historie geniuszy tworzą się za każdym razem na nowo, a ich schemat jest zawsze podobny - wrażliwość wybitnych twórców jest też zapowiedzią ich zagłady. Ram V korzysta tu z legendy o muzykach, którzy sprzedali duszę diabłu w zamian za talent. To rozważania znane od czasów klasyków poważki, przez Roberta Johnsona aż do Dylana. "Błękit w zieleni" (tytuł jednego z utworów ze słynnego "Kind of Blue" - Davisa) przyjmuje cechy uniwersalnej przypowieści i robi to w sposób imponujący. Zarówno mroczna i trzymająca w napięciu fabuła z mocno alegorycznym zakończeniem, jak i kapitalna strona graficzna, w której spotykają się stylistyki Davida Macka i Billa Sinkiewicza, robią piorunujące wrażenie. Dodatkowo to jeden z tych komiksów, w których fantastycznie pokazano muzykę i muzyków. Cały ten jazz i związane z nim konotacje to coś co mnie do tej historii przyciągnęło i muszę przyznać, że się nie zawiodłem

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue In Green is one of those rare cases where I can't tell which creator is my favourite. Everyone here is putting out what may well be the best work of their careers. Of course, comics are often seen as an amalgamation of words and art where readers expect some level of cohesion, some degree of fluidity between the roles, but there's something special here.

Ram V's narration digs into your mind with this sad and building fear of man losing himself. Anand Rk's art looks like a waking nightmare of the monster under your bed that's kept you from sleeping for two weeks straight. John Pearson's colours are bright but never let the shadows dissipate as the darkness swallows the page; every burst of colour is like the view of sunrise from hungover eyes, obfuscating purpose and letting the days (and pages) blur through like a haze. Aditya Bidikar proves to very well be the best letterer in comics today as hand-written words dig into the page like scratches on a record.

A good horror anything (comics, movies, novels, etc.) comes in what's shown and what's not shown. Horror comics are interesting in this regard, they're primarily a visual art form. Horror creators like Junji Ito will use page turns to go into this big detailed splashes of body horror that unsettle readers and make the reader apprehensive of turning the page- in this way, they're like the jump scares in movies. Unlike jump scares, body horror will stick with you as you continue through the page and the monster persists. Because comics are all about that persistent effort throughout the book, the mind's eye following the page, and the reader being an active participant as they're not just presented with a story but personally flip through the pages themselves. Movies will hide a monster out-of-frame, comics can't just hide a monster out-of-frame because the in-between of the panels is where the comic happens.

Blue in Green is, of course, a horror comic. And as you push through the pages, panel by panel, there's no terrifying monster that comes out at you in a jump scare. There's no body horror that surprises you and grosses you out. Instead the horror is a lingering fear for your own sanity. The world is distorted and unrefined, as Erik Dieter wanders through his life without a clear goal or purpose so do elements of the comic. It's almost an adventure and a journey of self-discovery, except the self he discovers isn't one that's particularly good. There's this omnipresent evil that soaks itself into the page full of greed and ambition on losing yourself in your passions. Hate towards your parents, hate towards the world, and hate towards your own mediocrity, with the dangling hook of greatness just around the corner. Always wanting to push further into your own story, knowing that you're getting closer to your own end.

Blue in Green is deeply unsettling and surreal while at times feeling like the most sane book you've read all year. Entire paragraphs find themselves fragmented and hidden as they wrap around the characters and settings- it's not about what's said, it's about how it's presented. The more Erik uncovers, the more everything makes sense, the less tenuous his grip on reality is. The more questions he asks. And as the reader I couldn't help myself, like Erik, constantly pushing forward. I wanted a resolution. I hoped for a happy ending, a ray of light that would make the darkness worth it, all too much aware of the flaws and failures that would complicate it. This book screws with your mind. It's not a book you read and become too scared to sleep that night- it's a book that leaves you lying awake in bed feeling hopeless. It's a book that leaves you with unease for days on end as you question your own ambitions. It's a book that results in lingering fear for the next few days as you contemplate what you've read.

And it's a book that should be at the top of everyone's "Best Comics of 2020" lists.

[Adam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

*ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

This is a horror book where there horror sneaks up on you because the art is so good it camouflages the terror until it's right in front of you.

Erik Dieter was once a rising-star musician who is called a failure (basically) on page 2 by a student, setting up the tone of the book. The inciting incident is his mother passing away from cancer and his traveling home where his sister was left doing the hard work. We'll learn that Erik and his mother had a fractured relationship and this book is the story of him trying to tie all the threads together to figure how and why they fell apart.

The family's history with jazz music is the backbone of this story and it doesn't require you to be well versed in the world of jazz, but it was certainly a selling point for me. The story tries to figure out if recognition and fame are worth more than the work itself. Erik spends a good deal of time grappling with limitations and what's self-imposed. It's what starts showing the cracks in his psyche and drives his actions.

The art was incredibly compelling and even when the story wasn't driving hard, the illustrations kept you turning pages. There are simultaneously clean, drafted lines and buildings alongside splattered paint and soft charcoal features and people. I haven't seen a book like it recently and I really enjoyed that about it.

The horror turns of this book weren't wildly surprising, but it didn't diminish the story. They weren't graphic, but there were several "shocking" erotic moments in the book that didn't really feel necessary. I couldn't tell if it was about trying to jostle the reader in the moment or keep the feeling of this book mature. Again, it was more that it felt unnecessary to the world they'd created and I bumped against it hard enough to get pulled out of the story.

Overall, for not usually being my genre of choice, it was an interesting and entertaining book. I was curious how deep the jazz references were going to go because the title felt like it was setting up a lot, but it truly was more the framework for the story. I will certainly check out more work by this creative team.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming and mind-numbing journey following a jazzist's pursuit of creative genius that draws immensely on its psychedelic artwork to immerse readers into a harrowing universe. Clever in so many ways with the ways the story uses the artwork to tell its story, it does suffer from its confusing narrative and uneven pace.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There's music even in torment."

This is a dark, harrowing and intricately beautiful tale. I'm totally blown away by the writing, the artwork and the dark nature of its denouement. So beautiful, every panel is an artful masterpiece!

Ram V and Anand RK are such a dynamic duo.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful art, coloring, and hand-lettering that are perfectly suited to the story. Very text-heavy for a comic, but it is worth the effort.

It is in some ways a Faust story where a guy accepts a deal from a devil in exchange for the ability to play music like a god. (Sort of like the blues players who meet the devil at a crossroads.) In other ways it is a story of a familial curse, with the demonic being haunting the family line.

Even with an abundance of text, the story was a bit hard to parse. For example, it never explicitly says where the childhood home to which Eric returns for the funeral of his mother is at. At the beginning we see him flying there from NYC. At other times, it jumps directly to NYC or the house with no mention of travel, so it seems like the home is in short distance of NYC. For this reason several people in my book group thought the authors were confused about USA geography and had him flying from Manhattan to the Bronx. By paying very careful attention in a second read, I can see that the home is in Fulton county Georgia. The jazz club called "Becker's" is a has multiple locations: one near the family home, and one in NYC. One or two sentences here and there could have greatly lessened my confusion.

[Machiavelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one really didn’t land for me. The art and story felt like they were working against each other instead of in sync. The visuals swing between moody and messy, never finding a consistent tone, and the writing leaned too heavy into monologues and metaphor. The themes of obsession and artistic sacrifice are ambitious, but the execution felt scattered. In the end, the mix just didn’t come together for me.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very haunting, moody graphic novel. One of the very best comic books of 2020.

[Ision · Rating 4 out of 5]

najpiękniejszy na świecie ale za nic nie rozumiem fabuły

[Alex Sarll]

Erik, a music teacher who's never quite made peace with the fact that he's good rather than great, heads back home for his mother's funeral, and sees, or thinks he sees, something untoward in the house, holding a mysterious photo. On the trail of which he finds himself stirring up ghosts, both literal and metaphorical. I don't really have a sense of Ram V as a writer yet, things I could point to and say, oh yes, this is definitely a Ram book – but whether it's colonial vampires, future wastelands or this unsettling tale, I've yet to read anything by him that isn't at least interesting. The core dilemma could obviously be taken as one creative working through his own concerns under the veil of another art, and my first thought was, if so, I'd say Ram has nothing to worry about. But the fear of mediocrity is balanced with a fear of the toll paid for being something more, and it's that double bind that really starts the sense of dread building.
(And of course, like so many things, it gains an extra power from when it's landed. "I float through the city, thrumming with the electric promise of things to come. There is music and art everywhere, smoldering under a mundane reality fast losing its grip on me. Extraordinary within the ordinary. There are notes in the changing street lights. Expressions in neon neighborhoods. Music in Mondrian city grids." I remember that feeling, but it seems a long time ago now. Our world could almost be a glimpse of a nightmare alternative which the music shows people - see, this is what a city looks like where nobody gets tempted to pay the toll you fear. No monsters, but no greatness either. Erik's next job could be in cyber, he just doesn't know it yet)

As for artist Anand RK – I've never heard of him before, but when I started reading this I had to flick back to the credits to check it wasn't Ray Fawkes, because it feels very Underwinter and that is absolutely a compliment. Beautiful, evocative, haunted stuff that could make a story far less interesting than this worth reading just for the pretty.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew I would really like this. A graphic novel with interesting and captivating artwork? Check. Heavily influenced by music? Check. Mild horror elements? Check. These things made Blue in Gree (named after the Miles Davis song) such a fantastic read. In this novel we meet Erik a music teacher at a college where life seems to just be middling by. Suddenly he is called back to his childhood home by his sister to attend his mother's funeral.

This is when the story picks up as we are introduced to a complicated mother-son relationship, a mysterious man, and a mystery that captures Erik's attention. This novel really had me hooked, on one hand we are dealing with a man who is struggling to understand his life and lack of musical success. On the other we have forces tat work that seem inescapable.

While it did take me a while to get used to the art style by the end of the book I was enraptured and wished I had some of the artwork to hang on my walls. The reasons this doesn't get perfect makes is because I felt like it needed more the story, at the end I was left with more questions then answers.

Overall, if your a fan of music and a great story brought to life by lovely artwork this is for you

*A Thank you to Edelweiss+ for allowing met to read this. Here is my honest and unbiased review*

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is very much a modern take on the early and pre-Vertigo comics style. It’s all beautifully scratchy pencils and blotchy watercolors (with an occasional bit of mixed media collage) accompanying a dour and slightly supernatural story. I loved all that style and thought it was really well done, but the story itself doesn’t work as well for me and dragged by the end. It’s well-told for what it’s about, a tortured musician straining for artistic expression beyond his grasp, but it also leans hard into romanticizing basic dysfunction and casting it as an inherent or predestined consequence to creating great art. It’s a hackneyed framing I find unsympathetic and difficult to connect with, and one that minimizes how much practice and effort goes into creating great art.

The art in this is still really great though!

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good drama horror story. The artwork is usually not something I love but it kinda worked here. Becoming a Ram V fanboy

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a great read with amazing art. I just didn't vibe with the ending.

[It's just Deano · Rating 4 out of 5]

It appears to be quite difficult for me to nail down exactly what Blue in Green is actually about. On the surface it seems to be a story of a man coming to terms with the death of his mother while also struggling in the pursuit of his musical and creative talent. But below that muddy surface there is something deeper and more profound here - the trappings of creative talent, loss and grieving? Maybe?

... And that's one of my issues with the book. So much here is open to interpretation it's almost like reading two books at once - an achievement in itself! But this sort of writing undoubtedly relies heavily on elements of the unexplained and the vague that I can't help but feel a little duped by it. It just didn't feel very conclusive given the serious tone of the book.

That said, it is an intriguing read and it does at least feel very different from what you may usually read. The art offered here by Anand RK is absolutely phenomenal. It's murky, ethereally beautiful and most definitely instrumental to the tone and the readability of this story.

Overall, this is an interesting book. It feels very heavy, mysterious and dark, but you're compelled to keep reading regardless. The constant monologues do feel a bit much at times and the vagueness of the book's undertones will either have you gripped or frustrated. But the artwork is absolutely wonderful.

________

My score: 7/10

Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

________

[Pop Bop · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A life built on someone else's fears"

This is a stunning achievement. Either the story or the art would be enough to recommend this book, but the two together move it right up to the top shelf.

We've all read stories about tortured musicians. "Young Man With A Horn", (book and/or movie), is a classic. But this novel takes us even deeper and further, with a nice touch of darkness and mad obsession. Think of a nastier and creepier version of the Jack Klugman Twilight Zone episode "A Passage for Horn". We follow our hero as he unearths his family's musical past and learns about his own musical self. This was all Robert Johnson at the crossroads, and no musician is a musician until he finds himself at the crossroads. Forget the graphics for a moment, just as a written work - the narration, the dialogue, even the vaguely pretentious artsy musings - this is a fine book.

But then there's the art. The style is abstract impressionist realistic. That is, it's jazzy and artsy and often off kilter, but you always know what's going on and the artist never loses track of his obligation to tell a sequential and clear story. I'm not expert about the medium but it looks like pencil with watercolor washes, (although they probably get that look differently now in the era of computer graphics). Lots of unusual panel design and placement, which gives the story a fast, headlong, racing feel. The effect is splashy, but it also lends itself to darkness and melancholy and despair, which means it lends itself to jazz. However you care to describe the art work the bottom line is that it is propulsive and itchy and makes you want to look at it.

So, this book is a very classy sucker punch that tells a classic tale in a seductive and compelling fashion. It has style to burn, (or was that a spoiler?).

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork of Blue in Green is really cool; a kind of scratchy, washed out look similar to Ben Templesmith. It works perfect as the aesthetic of a book focused on art. The story is centered around family and the lengths some will go to follow their passions. It is familiar, but told with a deft hand. I think the horror elements threw me off a little. They didn't need to be there to tell this story. If it is going to be there, I felt like there should be more of it. Either way, this is a beautiful book to look at and there is a lot of talent within these pages.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A second-generation jazz artist finds surprises and mystery in his mother's background when she passes from cancer. He's not found any kind of fame that might have come his way, with his students already aware his position is not what they want from their career, and his relationship with mother and his sister was either strained or absent. But in this piece he finds a single spot he just has to keep scratching, until some closer affinity with the old woman might be found.

This was a surprise – some guys sounding very Indian, producing this book about jazz in the small clubs of New York. It's definitely classy to look at – scratchy and sort of rain-sodden, but the hand-crafted images, with their coloured pencil work, really make this a fine moody piece. And the script is really good, too – unapologetically wordy at times, with our man's narration, but surprisingly refined, and quotable. He tells us of one exploratory move into the past that he makes, "the dust clings to me as if glad for the company after an eternity in shadow and burnt history". You don't get that in Iron Man – or even dust.

Another thing to consider is the fact I just don't do jazz. The saxophone is one of the world's worst inventions. But this manages to escape from – while flirting with them, mind – all the stereotypes of noodly jazz books. For one thing, the visual evocations of the music have a lot more of the Cthulhu about them than you'd ever expect. Yes, you could look at this and see the usual selling-the-soul-to-the-devil-for-music trope, and there's a bit of it that's merely daddy issues with a change of gender, but this still gets a strong four stars. Nice.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ram V does it again. This may be my favorite of his works so far. The subject matter really hit home for me. As such, no review, or I'll be here for half hour trying to do the book justice. It's incredible, go read it.