Blessed Thistle

by Steve Morris

The winner of Dark Horse’s 2005 New Recruits contest, Blessed Thistle heralds the debut of an unsettling new voice in graphic fiction, Steve Morris. Relentless in its questioning, unflinching in its answers, this thinking-man’s thriller delves into the heart of suburbia and reveals it to be very dark indeed. Scary and surprising, unexpected and unpretentious, this original graphic novel sheds a terrifying light on a few ordinary people and the simple decisions that change their lives forever.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Comix

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed and let down. The cover art is wonderfully psychedelic and the introduction promises EVIL, especially an evil child which is one of my favorite subjects. It's like when you go to a horror movie and even though it's PG-13 you still hope for R level horror some how. Anyway there's three intertwined stories. Story one is an ex-pastor giving guidance to his failed house robber, who's evil sister is story number two, and finally the evil sister's teacher as the third story. There's also this mind controlling Tequilla worm sub-story that goes absolutely nowhere and I was like WTF, why even put this in? Was it to just to show why the teacher was an alkie? Symbolism? Spoiler part, well not really: The ex-pastor stages the house robber's murder as self-defense, saw that coming right off. The evil girl stages the teachers accidental death, big surprise too. The teacher, uh just whines about her loser boyfriend and complains about her migraines. I'm probably missing some deeper meaning about how the teacher was already dead inside. Moral of the story: Don't judge a book by its cover, also is literal in this case. Great cover art but highly predictable story. Even with all that said I think the author and illustrator Steve Morris has potential and I will be curious to see more of his work.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an impresive debut work. Steve Morris's art is great overall- I think he could work on his children's faces, but I think he wanted to make them kind of grouteus. characters were well-developed and each talked in a unique voice. The problem was the plot. The book is like seperate episodes of the Twilight Zone, bt hints within the book made me think that an overall plot connected them all. I wanted someting bigger, more plot and instead they were seperate stories about people who incidentally knew each other. Teases within the book made me think otherwise and so I was disappointed. My other gripe is that this book has one of the ugliest covers I have ever seen. It doesn't fit with the character and nature of the book. It was like they tried to make a cover for a different genre of comic. I have no doubt we will see great things from Steve in the future, but this book is just OK.

[Francesca Giardiello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insoddisfacente: storie e personaggi che sembrano per legarsi e avere una loro motivazione, e invece niente. Tutto è solamente una carrellata di cattiveria che dovrebbe intrigare, ma invece si risolve in una nuvola di fumo.

[clouds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept has potential but the stories fell flat. Mind-controlling worm subplot went nowhere.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma história intrigante e promissora. Um inexperiente assaltante é surpreendido por um antigo pastor durante um assalto inepto. Compreensivo, o pastor leva o jovem a falar do percurso que o levou ao crime. O resultado é um entrançado negro de histórias implacáveis, onde uma jovem rapariga maléfica e manipuladora brutaliza as colegas e assassina a professora, mulher alcoólica que a castiga pelas suas acções. Mas não há redenções na narrativa. Na primeira oportunidade, o pastor assassina o jovem a sangue frio, passando por inocente aos olhos da polícia convencida de se tratar de um homicídio involuntário em defesa pessoal. Uma surpresa que nos dá uma narrativa implacável ilustrada num estilo gráfico inquietante.

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

If Blessed Thistle were an intro story to a larger story in a larger world, I would say it did a great job of getting my attention. The mood in the beginning is very well developed and the tone remains a mystery throughout. Both qualities are rendered useless because the story ends before it begins. We meet two "main" character who participate in events that are not satisfactorily explained and cause/receive consequences that are as interesting as they are unwarranted. If this was a reveal issue of an epic story involving the devil, child-rearing, runaways and a mysterious town, I'd buy in. However, the story ends before it ever really begins and doesn't make much sense along the way.

[Justin · Rating 1 out of 5]

It looked like an interesting premise - the worst evil is the evil that hides in plain sight and looks normal. How do you confront it? The introduction was glowing and vaguely intellectual, but the whole thing lacked...hope. Don't get me wrong, it was well done, but in the end, it didn't even really tackle the issue of confronting evil, dealing with it, etc. It was just kind of, "Here's evil. It's F*&ked up. the end." Not really what I was hoping for, and not satisfying in the least. wouldn't recommend.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This combines an Evil Little Child plot that reads like a knockoff of The Bad Seed (which is over 50 years ago) with a fairly pointless B plot and ending twist. I won't be picking up Vol. 2.

[Dana Jerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and cruel. Tight story and beautifully drawn/colored, which made me want more.