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Book Review – Lip Hook by David Hine and Mark Stafford

This was my fist graphic novel, or comic as they used to be called. A reason I had put it off was that almost all of my reading is on a black and white e-reader, and I had wrongly assumed it would be detrimental to the experience. Colour would have been better, and the speech bubble writing is small, but perfectly possible to read and enjoy.

This is folk horror, populated by a set of grotesque characters whose images verge on the disturbing. Straight away it’s a whole different experience to a novel, for which one’s mind does the job of conjuring that image.

Vincent and Sophia are hoodlums on the run from some unspecified crime. Their pursuers, who we never see, present such a threat that it results in them veering off the main road to the remote, forgotten village of Lip Hook, a place shut off from the rest of the world, caught in another twisted reality. As suggested by the subtitle, the sense of unease grows as we learn more about the isolated village, and its surrounding marsh with vast swarms of flying insects, and the seemingly ever present fog.

Illustrator Stafford perfects the technique a film maker might use, of letting the camera dwell to create a sense of dread and yet it is completely compelling. Surely his is the harder of the two roles.

From cricket on the village green, to the masks the villagers wear to protect themselves against the mist, the apparent idyll of rural village life contrasts with stranger practices. The atmosphere builds as it becomes clear something is clearly wrong, and a rewarding climax ensues.

For lovers of folk horror, this is a treat not to be missed.