Bone Parish Vol. 1

I‘m impressed. As a long-time graphic-novels’ fan I look for fresh and exciting reads in the genre, but I rarely find something worthwhile. Cullen Bunn’s Bone Parish engaged me from the start and never let go. The story blends surreal horror, narcotic visions, stunning art and solid writing.

Ash, a hallucinogenic made from the remains of the dead, allows to experience not only visions but also gain powers of the deceased used to prepare a batch (like combat skills, knowledge, insights). Winters family produces and distributes Ash on the street. Their business develops and bigger players want it for themselves.

Winters don’t want to sell their business, but they struggle to manage it properly. Family’s head, Grace, abuses Ash as it allows her to spent time with visions of her deceased husband. Her son Brae shares trade secrets with wrong people. Maintaining control of the operation has a high cost.

Ash allows to experience life events of the dead, show thoughts of the living, and gain skills of the deceased. It transcends life and death, but it seems Winters still don’t understand the potential of what they’re selling.

Bone Parish is a brilliant supernatural crime thriller that displays a lot of spooky creativity. It combines a gritty crime drama (conflict between police and drug dealers) and gothic horror. Jonas Scharf‘s art captures gothic aesthetics and formidably blends it with modern urban setting. Every single page is a work of art.

If you’re into horror graphic novels, read this one and thank me later.

First, I must warn you that this is equal parts graphic (no pun intended) and gory. It is also beautiful and stunning. Okay okay, I know. My descriptive words are …. lacking and mostly generalized. So let’s try this:

Bone Parish is about a new drug that’s made its debut and the family behind it. A girl whose discovered how to make a hallucinogen from dead bodies, the people who use the drug and the fight to control the money and the drugs. Typical of drug crime, except for how it’s made and what people are seeing while high on it.

The biggest draw to this was the art. The colors are absolutely stunning. I loved the way that you can follow the timeline of the story simply by noticing what colors are being used. The story itself was compelling. I kept reading to figure out what in the heck was actually happening. And when it ended? Crap. I need more. Like right now please.

I will be keeping my eye out for more volumes and this is one I would love to have a physical copy of.

Thank you to netgalley and boom! Studios for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest opinion.