This 6×6 inch book is completely wordless and only in one color – red. What a challenge it must have been to make! The drawings are so graphic it takes a second before you realize what’s what in some of them. The characters are all made of abstract shapes, which are interesting in an of themselves, and when built up to form a body, give a lot of personality to the character. I haven’t seen this type of drawing before. It’s so unique. I love how light is used to define space. Shadows help you understand where the horizon is. I can’t say I completely understand what’s going on in the plot. Apparently, the main character is a vampire slayer who after seeing pictures of victims, sets out to slay the vampire. He takes a wooden stake and a map and journeys to fight evil. I don’t really care what this book is about personally. I like just flipping through it and trying to disect how Dan composed each frame. I haven’t seen Dan’s other book, The Octopi and the Ocean but I have seen his amazing website. The website is one big illustrations where you can click on different parts to get info or pictures. I like that when you scroll down you go underground in the illustration, passing scenes of bugs at work, until you realize it’s all inside a man’s head. Check it out here. There’s an online store where you can buy all kinds of goodies from sweatshirts to books to prints, even originals. Buying a book page seems so appealing.

© Julia Rothman 2007