CORPSE DE BALLET

Dark academia meets Black Swan in this twisted tale.

Senior Rosamund Hammond arrives at Saint Anselmus, a top-notch dance academy where it always seems to be raining. Her late transfer makes the other girls whisper about her. When Rosamund finds tacks inside her pointe shoes, her roommate, Eugenie, stands up for her, and the two become fast friends. Rosamund learns that Eugenie’s former roommate, Giovanna, recently left without saying goodbye, and she agrees to help Eugenie investigate. When Rosamund starts seeing lurking ghosts and moths swarming around her, she’s persuaded that Eugenie is correct in believing that a murdered Giovanna is haunting them. This year’s senior performance is Coppélia, a comic ballet about Swanhilda’s jealousy of Coppélia, the doll her fiancé, Franz, has fallen in love with. Rosamund grapples with her own jealousy when she’s cast as understudy to Eugenie’s Swanhilda. The roommates’ relationship grows more complicated when Headmistress Lindhorst takes Rosamund under her wing, pushing her to achieve immortality—like a butterfly pinned under glass—through dance. As Rosamund begins practicing late into the night and struggles with nightmares, she experiences a departure from reality. Some of the mature themes would have benefited from being further contextualized or unpacked. With its masterfully detailed and textured blue-hued illustrations, this darkly thrilling page-turner paints a disturbing picture of the ballet industry. The spooky visuals are enhanced by onomatopoeia. Most characters present white.

A moody, intense graphic novel about sacrifice and the dangers of ambition.