My thanks to Netgalley, First Second Books, Olivie Blake and Little Chmura for the eARC of this graphic novel in exchange for a review.
It's a goal of mine to collect and read as many works by Olivie Blake as I can find. When I saw that there would be a graphic novel by Blake, I immediately pre-ordered a copy for myself. The title, the synopsis and what I saw of the artwork on the cover was enough to convince me to give this a shot. I'm happy to report that this was a stunning piece of work, quietly gripping and beautiful to behold.
Clara & the Devil follows Clara, a young woman with plans to marry her long-time boyfriend and get a job at the library in her seaside hometown. One day, a person that identifies themself as the Devil asks for a library card and everything begins to change. Clara spends the summer trying to understand why the Devil came to her town, what the Devil wants with her best friend Jonah, and what the Devil wants with her.
This was an interesting tale. It's sparse with the dialogue, focusing a lot on the inner workings of Clara's mind, showing how she keeps herself contained and observes the people around her. She has her plans in place but the arrival of the Devil forces her to take a closer look at exactly what she wants for herself. The appearance of the Devil in the work is kept to a minimum, working more with the IDEA of what the Devil means to Clara in helping her to confront her deepest desires. The Devil doesn't actively work to make Clara change and that is a key part of the story, showing how the growth of Clara as a character is dependent on what she chooses for herself.
Besides the Devil, the only other character given page time is Jonah, Clara's best friend. There is enough page time to show that Jonah has also kept parts of himself hidden away from people and that with the arrival of the Devil, Jonah begins to actively pursue what he truly wants. There is mention of a co-worker, Marianne, at the library, and Clara's supposedly devoted boyfriend, Andrew, but they're not given enough development to stand apart from what they mean to Clara. I guess we'll have to see in other volumes if there will be more to these characters of if their lack of page time indicates their importance to the story.
The artwork is in a word, gorgeous. There is a water-color quality to the colors used in the art, allowing each page to feel like swimming through the waters of the seaside town, showing the flow of change in Clara as she again and again comes face to face with the Devil. There are a lot of greens, blacks and muted teals and blues swirled in the background, with the brightest colors being certain splashes of red and orange, either to indicate changes in Clara's thoughts and world or to highlight the flush in her face and the Devil's face, and even bright blue was used for both the Devil's and Clara's eye color and certain accents around the Devil when they were trying to make a point. Alongside the water dripping off certain frames and panels, there are a lot flames used in the background, outlines meant to indicate the changes that the characters are experiencing, and I loved the use of these images to give more heft to the work. I want to find more work by Little Chmura to see what other styles they use because this book is beautiful. Where the prose keeps itself back, allowing for the reader to fill in the blanks between sentences, the art rises like the tide behind the images of Clara, the Devil and Jonah. Both Blake's words and Little Chmura's art are needed to make this graphic novel something that stands apart from recent releases. It's a dreamy look into hidden desires and the meaning of power, being power over others and power over one's own self.
In the end, I'm looking forward to more volumes of Clara & the Devil. From what I can find, there might be more available on the Webtoon site if I want to get ahead in the story. At this point, I'm seriously considering it.
Rating on my Scale: 9 Stars. While I'm still a bit in awe of this book, I wish there was more available in the first official volume. I'm going to have to look into the webtoon to get more of this world and answers to the questions that I have at this time. On one hand, this need to seek out more is a good thing but on the other, I don't know if the webtoon is being recreated in the official release as an exact copy or if it's been redone in any way. Still, if you are fan of either of these creators, you won't be disappointed by what you find in these pages.
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