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Mad Night
Gothic horror, madcap comedy, and an old-fashioned murder mystery coalesce perfectly in this chilling graphic novel.
For those who always thought the animated introductions to PBS's Mystery! series were cooler than the actual shows themselves, Richard Sala's marvelously dark and stormy novel-length thrillers are just the ticket.
In Mad Night, his follow-up to The Chuckling Whatsit, Sala follows ace detective Judy Drood and her reluctant companion Kasper Keene as they try to unravel a string of mysterious occurrences and heinous murders in the usually tranquil Lone Mountain College. What is the sinister secret of Professor Massimo Ibex? How is the (literal) puppet mistress Aunt Azalea and her bevy of beauteous pirate girls involved? Where does the lithping, er, lisping, corrupt cop Pinch fit in? And what exactly is the significance of the Glass Scorpion?
Sala's superbly elegant, shadowy draftsmanship and wittily spooky storytelling make Mad Night a wonderful romp for fans of gothic horror-part Dario Argento (stabbings! eye-gougings! decapitations!), part Edward Gorey (eerie creatures of the night! sinister alleyways!), but all fun from the first page to the last.
For those who always thought the animated introductions to PBS's Mystery! series were cooler than the actual shows themselves, Richard Sala's marvelously dark and stormy novel-length thrillers are just the ticket.
In Mad Night, his follow-up to The Chuckling Whatsit, Sala follows ace detective Judy Drood and her reluctant companion Kasper Keene as they try to unravel a string of mysterious occurrences and heinous murders in the usually tranquil Lone Mountain College. What is the sinister secret of Professor Massimo Ibex? How is the (literal) puppet mistress Aunt Azalea and her bevy of beauteous pirate girls involved? Where does the lithping, er, lisping, corrupt cop Pinch fit in? And what exactly is the significance of the Glass Scorpion?
Sala's superbly elegant, shadowy draftsmanship and wittily spooky storytelling make Mad Night a wonderful romp for fans of gothic horror-part Dario Argento (stabbings! eye-gougings! decapitations!), part Edward Gorey (eerie creatures of the night! sinister alleyways!), but all fun from the first page to the last.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Richard Sala
67 books142 followersRichard Sala grew up with a fascination for musty old museums, dusty old libraries, cluttered antique shops, narrow alleyways, hidden truths, double meanings, sinister secrets and spooky old houses. He has written and drawn a number of unusual graphic novels which often combine elements of classic mystery and horror stories and which have been known to cause readers to emit chuckles as well as gasps. Although most of his books are written with teens and older readers in mind, his book, CAT BURGLAR BLACK, can be enjoyed by younger readers as well.
To view current art and activity, please visit: http://richardsala.tumblr.com
Note: I am new to GoodReads ~ and I am happy to have a place dedicated to sharing my love of books with other book lovers. Please be patient with me if I seem rather slow and clumsy! Thanks to all my readers over the years!
To view current art and activity, please visit: http://richardsala.tumblr.com
Note: I am new to GoodReads ~ and I am happy to have a place dedicated to sharing my love of books with other book lovers. Please be patient with me if I seem rather slow and clumsy! Thanks to all my readers over the years!
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 26, 2018
Ich liebe Richard Salas absurde, expressionistische, surreale, märchenhafte, schräge, schrille, lustige, brutale, durchgeknallte Comics! Der einzige, der Sala gefährlich werden kann, ist er selbst. So leider in MAD NIGHT: Eine super Story mit toller Artwork, die nur ein einziges Manko hat:
Salas verrückte Plots tragen keine 200+ Seiten starke Story. Die erste Hälfte des Bandes hätte locker 5 Sterne bekommen, aber dann zog sich die Handlung in die Länge und, ich muss es gestehen, ich hatte total den Überblick verloren, wer hier eigentlich wer sein könnte oder welchem Plan folgt.
Salas verrückte Plots tragen keine 200+ Seiten starke Story. Die erste Hälfte des Bandes hätte locker 5 Sterne bekommen, aber dann zog sich die Handlung in die Länge und, ich muss es gestehen, ich hatte total den Überblick verloren, wer hier eigentlich wer sein könnte oder welchem Plan folgt.
July 4, 2008
Oh golly. A lot of pretty girls die in this book. Past his characters of Peculia and Judy Drood, it seem like every alluring woman in a Richard Sala graphic novel is akin the red shirts in the old Star Trek series...those poor bastards who, when Captain Kirk said, "Hey guy in the red shirt, why don't you beam down to the planet with Spock and I?" then the only possible answer would have been, "Because some alien creature will rip my #@&*ing head off, sir."
And it's that way with the Sala girls. Saucy charms, alluring figures, and only pages away from being knifed or guillotined or tossed screaming off a cliff.
Achh---I must move on from my sadness.
As usual for Sala, the graphic novel is amazingly complex, perhaps too complex, with perhaps too many characters and too many interweaving (and rather tenuous) threads, but at the same time this wealth of complexity seems to fit the gothic / noir horror mysteries that Sala produces, so he is forgiven.
I suppose I come to Sala for that horror, and for that mystery, but mostly I'm along to see the characters. Maybe that's why he kills off so many of them---just to make room to introduce the next.
And it's that way with the Sala girls. Saucy charms, alluring figures, and only pages away from being knifed or guillotined or tossed screaming off a cliff.
Achh---I must move on from my sadness.
As usual for Sala, the graphic novel is amazingly complex, perhaps too complex, with perhaps too many characters and too many interweaving (and rather tenuous) threads, but at the same time this wealth of complexity seems to fit the gothic / noir horror mysteries that Sala produces, so he is forgiven.
I suppose I come to Sala for that horror, and for that mystery, but mostly I'm along to see the characters. Maybe that's why he kills off so many of them---just to make room to introduce the next.
June 18, 2015
Fantastic, if you haven't read Ricard Sala, I think this is a good place to start as it has a much tidier ending than his other works that I've read.
Imagine Tim Burton making a gory slasher film and you have a pretty good idea of what this book is all about.
It's all very mysterious and Gothic with truly strange characters and one bizarre turn of events after another.
This book has a large cast but the star of the show is definitely Judy Drood who is smart and sassy and unwilling to take crap from anyone.
Overall, this is a delightful mystery with a high death count and some absolutely cringe-worthy murders. LOVE!
Imagine Tim Burton making a gory slasher film and you have a pretty good idea of what this book is all about.
It's all very mysterious and Gothic with truly strange characters and one bizarre turn of events after another.
This book has a large cast but the star of the show is definitely Judy Drood who is smart and sassy and unwilling to take crap from anyone.
Overall, this is a delightful mystery with a high death count and some absolutely cringe-worthy murders. LOVE!
July 21, 2011
When you've got a college campus with lots of gothic structures and a bizarre faculty, is there any surprise when a series of grisly murders happen? Not if you're Judy Drood, super detective! Throw in some pirates, a brainwashing puppet, a creepy curator of a gothic museum, a weirdo who prints owl posters and puts them up around town, and about a dozen other nutcases, and you've got Richard Sala's longest book "Mad Night".
I chose "longest" to describe it because I found it to be quite a tedious read despite the many fantastical elements to it. If you've read Richard Sala then you'll notice a number of similarities between this work and his other novel length book "The Chuckling Whatsit", but if you've read more indie comics writers you'll notice the storyline of a killer on campus is similar to Daniel Clowes' "Art School Confidential" (more the film version than the comics). Judy Drood, the ass kicking, foul mouthed, short skirted heroine of the book is a badass version of Daphne from Scooby-Doo but she never incurs anything more than a scratch and escapes from every situation making her a less interesting character because we know she always survives.
The storyline is that a mad professor has found the secret to eternal youth and it involves taking the blood of young people and injecting it into themselves. The killings go on and on, the search for him goes on and on, and to be honest the writing wasn't all that great. I enjoy Sala's art but it doesn't make up for a lack of surprises or plot and though I usually enjoy this artist's work, I found myself waiting for it to end so I could put the book down. Disappointingly poor from such a talent as Sala's.
I chose "longest" to describe it because I found it to be quite a tedious read despite the many fantastical elements to it. If you've read Richard Sala then you'll notice a number of similarities between this work and his other novel length book "The Chuckling Whatsit", but if you've read more indie comics writers you'll notice the storyline of a killer on campus is similar to Daniel Clowes' "Art School Confidential" (more the film version than the comics). Judy Drood, the ass kicking, foul mouthed, short skirted heroine of the book is a badass version of Daphne from Scooby-Doo but she never incurs anything more than a scratch and escapes from every situation making her a less interesting character because we know she always survives.
The storyline is that a mad professor has found the secret to eternal youth and it involves taking the blood of young people and injecting it into themselves. The killings go on and on, the search for him goes on and on, and to be honest the writing wasn't all that great. I enjoy Sala's art but it doesn't make up for a lack of surprises or plot and though I usually enjoy this artist's work, I found myself waiting for it to end so I could put the book down. Disappointingly poor from such a talent as Sala's.
April 18, 2023
Close to *****!
Why are certain of his books so hard to get reasonably?
Why are certain of his books so hard to get reasonably?
March 22, 2012
I liked Mad Night, but felt like it had a few flaws that keep me from giving it four stars. For one thing, there are A LOT of spooky characters to keep straight. At the end of the graphic novel there is a cast list with pictures and I really wish they had just put that at the beginning of the book instead, because it would have made it easier to keep what was going on straight. My other criticism is that there's a lot of jumping around to different scenes within individual pages of the graphic novel, without a lot of framing of where you are from panel to panel as he shifts around to different characters. This made it more confusing than it had to be and seemed a bit sloppy to me in terms of the narrative and layout overall. I like the drawing and kind of liked the story, it reminded me of a spookier version of Matt Kindt's Super Spy, but I just wish it had been a little more clearly plotted out for the reader.
January 1, 2009
Bad night. Richard Sala plays down to his faithful following by doing a sort of Nancy Drew mystery by way of "Ghost World" for the hipster kid crowd hoping Terry Zwigoff will film it. For the past 5 years Sala's been doing the whole girl's adventure shtick and with the exception of the "Peculia" books they stink. Skip this one.
April 11, 2019
This is a very bizarre gothic horror tale. The narrative is somewhat hard to follow, but the pictures do help to clarify things. The black and white images are cartoonishly ghoulish and many of the names are absurd. Still, it's a fairly entertaining story.
interesting quote:
"We are all flowers in Aunt Azalea's garden. ~You'll love her." (p. 134)
"Youth is wasted on the young. How true that is! Rich in an energy they aren't capable of appreciating. The injustice! The cruelty of nature!" (p. 185)
interesting quote:
"We are all flowers in Aunt Azalea's garden. ~You'll love her." (p. 134)
"Youth is wasted on the young. How true that is! Rich in an energy they aren't capable of appreciating. The injustice! The cruelty of nature!" (p. 185)
August 11, 2024
Well this was disappointing.
Besides the art which Sala always seems to be on point with, the story felt so bleh. A bunch of throwaway characters joining and leaving (dying) shortly after they were introduced. The story itself was ok I guess, but not very interesting.
I still enjoy the vibe and art so will keep reading his other work . This one was a miss unfortunately
Besides the art which Sala always seems to be on point with, the story felt so bleh. A bunch of throwaway characters joining and leaving (dying) shortly after they were introduced. The story itself was ok I guess, but not very interesting.
I still enjoy the vibe and art so will keep reading his other work . This one was a miss unfortunately
April 6, 2018
This book's not great, but it has a certain charm. Sala's riffing on B-movie and horror film schticks, done with tongue loosely in cheek. It's creepy, fast-moving, light on plot and character, heavy of bloodshed, ghoulish designs and creepiness. Art's somewhat stiff, but effective. Not a bad library borrow for the Halloween season, but certainly not essential.
December 22, 2016
It was interesting.
August 3, 2024
'It is true that the old eat the young daily'.
Professor Massimo Ibex stalks the campus, with his white hair and surprisingly youthful complexion; as does a byzantine web of villainous factions. Who is the strange biting boy in the orphanage with the coughing Phleming Lungwort? What's going on in the Observatory tower? Are those girls wearing pirate costumes part of some bizarre sorority? Who is the creepy glove puppet commanding them? But those swords look real...
We have the elusive Herr Schpook (why isn't he in Argentina with his other Austrian friends?) and the literally pointy headed University faculty. 'Sometimes I'm convinced I'm the only one holding it all together - the only one left with any sense - Blast it! What would the fools do without me?'... SPLAT. Our protagonists are the uber cool student journalist/kick boxer Judy Drood and the slightly hopeless, nice-guy extraordinaire Kasper Keene. The creepy and corpulent campus cop is gormless, but his intentions are not good. Pretty students are introduced and then die. Their glands providing the elixir of life. But don't let Schpook's assistant, Klaus Bindle, alone with the cadavers...
These books are funny, the details of the drawings are so good and they draw on all of the crappy horror movies you might have seen - in a fun way. Everything about the gothic and grotesque is so attractive to me!
Anyway, if you've been a student in a university, the tongue in cheek critique of the Professors here seems fair. :)
Professor Massimo Ibex stalks the campus, with his white hair and surprisingly youthful complexion; as does a byzantine web of villainous factions. Who is the strange biting boy in the orphanage with the coughing Phleming Lungwort? What's going on in the Observatory tower? Are those girls wearing pirate costumes part of some bizarre sorority? Who is the creepy glove puppet commanding them? But those swords look real...
We have the elusive Herr Schpook (why isn't he in Argentina with his other Austrian friends?) and the literally pointy headed University faculty. 'Sometimes I'm convinced I'm the only one holding it all together - the only one left with any sense - Blast it! What would the fools do without me?'... SPLAT. Our protagonists are the uber cool student journalist/kick boxer Judy Drood and the slightly hopeless, nice-guy extraordinaire Kasper Keene. The creepy and corpulent campus cop is gormless, but his intentions are not good. Pretty students are introduced and then die. Their glands providing the elixir of life. But don't let Schpook's assistant, Klaus Bindle, alone with the cadavers...
These books are funny, the details of the drawings are so good and they draw on all of the crappy horror movies you might have seen - in a fun way. Everything about the gothic and grotesque is so attractive to me!
Anyway, if you've been a student in a university, the tongue in cheek critique of the Professors here seems fair. :)
June 4, 2021
Richard Sala's short bio on the last page of MAD NIGHT tells us of his early fascination with museums, antique shops, dark alleyways, and old libraries; and his graphic novels always manage to evoke places like that--as well as black and white movies and the scary stories we used to tell each other as kids. All of his books have a wonderful sense of atmosphere, dark and intricate plots, and a feeling of being taken back to our younger days when science gone wrong and the supernatural seemed to be believable plot elements. There is a great sense of fun and suspended disbelief in these books. My only negative reaction is to the excessive and--no pun intended--graphic violence.
MAD NIGHT takes place on an isolated college campus with gothic architecture, mysterious faculty, and hidden passages. The plot is complicated but its basis is that there are a lot of people trying to get their hands on a formula for eternal life.
The heroine of MAD NIGHT is Judy Drood, girl detective. She is, I would guess, intended as a spoof of Nancy Drew. The last name, Drood, evokes the early girl detective, as well as suggesting Edwin Drood, a dark and still unsolved mystery started but not completed by Charles Dickens. Judy's hair style and clothing mirror those of Bonita Granville in the Nancy Drew movies. Her hot-tempered personality, however, has less in common with the unflappable Nancy than with another girl detective of that era, Trixie Belden. Where the #$@%^$&^ language and hidden knife come from is anyone's guess. Kasper Keene, Judy's companion, suggests Carolyn Keene, the pen name used by several writers to create the Nancy Crew stories, and his alliterative name brings to mind Ned Nickerson, Nancy's boyfriend.
Like the films that have influenced his work, Sala censors language but not violence. There are some rather grisly killings along the way, most of the victims attractive young women, as the mysterious killer brutally pursues his agenda. Can a story featuring a female protagonist also contain misogynistic elements? It seems to be so in the case of MAD NIGHT.
MAD NIGHT takes place on an isolated college campus with gothic architecture, mysterious faculty, and hidden passages. The plot is complicated but its basis is that there are a lot of people trying to get their hands on a formula for eternal life.
The heroine of MAD NIGHT is Judy Drood, girl detective. She is, I would guess, intended as a spoof of Nancy Drew. The last name, Drood, evokes the early girl detective, as well as suggesting Edwin Drood, a dark and still unsolved mystery started but not completed by Charles Dickens. Judy's hair style and clothing mirror those of Bonita Granville in the Nancy Drew movies. Her hot-tempered personality, however, has less in common with the unflappable Nancy than with another girl detective of that era, Trixie Belden. Where the #$@%^$&^ language and hidden knife come from is anyone's guess. Kasper Keene, Judy's companion, suggests Carolyn Keene, the pen name used by several writers to create the Nancy Crew stories, and his alliterative name brings to mind Ned Nickerson, Nancy's boyfriend.
Like the films that have influenced his work, Sala censors language but not violence. There are some rather grisly killings along the way, most of the victims attractive young women, as the mysterious killer brutally pursues his agenda. Can a story featuring a female protagonist also contain misogynistic elements? It seems to be so in the case of MAD NIGHT.
May 13, 2022
Another incredible gem from Richard Sala! I am just tearing through his work right now; I can’t get enough!
Mad Night is a mystery starring Judy Drood , Girl Detective, who I’d previously read about in a short strip from Sala’s collection, Black Cat Crossing. Drood is a foul mouthed and slightly mad parody of Nancy Drew, while Mad Night itself has plenty in common with old black and white mad science movies. This makes for a clever and entertaining confection! I could even easily picture one of the characters here being played by Peter Lorre.
I cannot recommend Sala enough, especially to fans of classic horror and gothic mystery. I couldn’t put Mad Night down until I finished it and can’t wait to read the next Judy Drood book (where she takes on evil clowns) as well.
Mad Night is a mystery starring Judy Drood , Girl Detective, who I’d previously read about in a short strip from Sala’s collection, Black Cat Crossing. Drood is a foul mouthed and slightly mad parody of Nancy Drew, while Mad Night itself has plenty in common with old black and white mad science movies. This makes for a clever and entertaining confection! I could even easily picture one of the characters here being played by Peter Lorre.
I cannot recommend Sala enough, especially to fans of classic horror and gothic mystery. I couldn’t put Mad Night down until I finished it and can’t wait to read the next Judy Drood book (where she takes on evil clowns) as well.
October 2, 2007
I read this in serialized form as "Evil Eye" - which, let me tell you, was lots of fun. Anyway, this may be Sala's best accomplishment to date - there's 2 or 3 different plots that are running in tango here, plus lots of pretty girls get their clothing all amuss before, during or after they get killed, if you're into that. To counterbalance that questionable eye candy, we also get Judy Drood stalking about, swearing up a storm as she tracks down the bad guys. Plus there's a crazy puppet! Pirate gear! How can you resist?
May 16, 2016
While not as mysterious or engrossing as
The Chuckling Whatsit
, this is still solid Sala work. I enjoyed Judy Drood, the intrepid Nancy Drew parody, but most of the other characters failed to connect (not the mention the fact that Sala's penchant for nubile cartoons in distressful situations gets a little out of hand). The thing I will probably remember most about Mad Night is Auntie Azalea, the puppet mastermind. She ain't from Sesame Street, folks.
September 30, 2013
I was expecting to really like this, gothic, pulp, mystery and female detectives are all things that I really enjoy but I found I didn't care much for this at all. It seemed like a farce but I just wasn't getting the humour of it. It reminded me a little of Melissa Gebbie's Cobweb which I liked much better. I borrowed this from the library along with the Chuckling Wotsit but after reading this I didn't bother reading the other one.
May 15, 2009
I left my book at home and found this while browsing the young adult library shelves. Fun stuff! A complex murder mystery filled with a variety of interesting looking evil-doers and quite violent. Also, there's come cute pirate babes!
March 26, 2010
A very fun read. I like to think of it as an update of a Nancy Drew mystery with the main character Judy Drood somehow combining the best of Buffy's ability to kick-ass with the greatness of Anya's abrupt-don't-give-me-any-shit attitude.
October 26, 2015
Gothic-esque graphic novel of murder and skullduggery on a college campus. Interesting drawings but otherwise eh. I’ve never read the teenage detective books it seems to be parodying so it was boring rather than charming.
May 11, 2009
Even though the plot was acceptably complex, the whole thing still felt rather done and stiff.
June 1, 2009
Weirdly enjoyable.
November 27, 2009
Weird, twisted, bloody, goofy fun.
September 14, 2010
Well, it didn't suck.
May 17, 2012
beautiful art. read twenty plus pages and skimmed another thirty. Beautiful art!
May 26, 2012
4 stars.
September 26, 2012
Nancy Drew meets the Adams Family. Oh, and there's a gang of hypno-slave pirate girls!
June 14, 2023
My recommended review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
December 4, 2012
Sala is a genius and Judy Drood is the best girl detective ever.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews