APPRENTICE LORD OF DARKNESS

It takes work to make a villain lovable.

Two hundred years ago, a hero drove Stearas, Master of Absolute Evil, from the Land of Alkyll. Things have been peaceful since, but the Lord of Darkness—a tiny, hooded, masked creature—has some nefarious plans. But just about every scheme to take over the kingdom or conquer the world ends up making people safer and happier. This graphic novel is filled with reversals. The princess loves the adventure of being kidnapped and helps out her captors again and again. A monster who works for the Lord of Darkness is cheerful and adores housework. It’s possible the book has too many surprises, but almost every time the story starts to feel repetitive, something astonishing or hilarious happens. In one scene, a golem is defeated by advertising flyers. Morin’s design for the golem is also inspired, although the artwork may be something of an acquired taste. The anatomy is so stylized that the characters barely look like human beings. But of course, large portions of the cast are golems or goblins or slug soldiers. The human beings tend to be light-skinned. If the plot is sometimes exhausting, the biggest twists are enormously satisfying, and the final surprise is such a huge reversal that it feels close to inevitable.

Just the thing for readers who think they’ve seen it all.