Blessed Thistle

The winner of Dark Horse's 2005 New Recruits contest, Blessed Thistle heralds the debut of an unsettling new voice in graphic fiction, Steve Morris. Relentless in its questioning, unflinching in its answers, this thinking-man's thriller delves into the heart of suburbia and reveals it to be very dark indeed. Scary and surprising, unexpected and unpretentious, this original graphic novel sheds a terrifying light on a few ordinary people and the simple decisions that change their lives forever.

From Booklist

With its striking full-color drawings, Morris' debut catches the eye immediately. Faces, classrooms, and unusual vantage points are all rendered with exquisite skill and creativity. Draftsmanship aside, however, readers may find the book's interlocked set of macabre vignettes either pleasantly spine-chilling or distastefully unsettling. As veteran comics author Arvid Nelson (Rex Mundi) makes plain in his introduction, Blessed Thistle is about the evil that lies hidden inside apparently normal people. In one episode, a troubled teen vandalizes the house of a retired minister whose pacifying demeanor conceals a more sinister motive. A related chapter involves the teen's younger, malevolent sister and a brutal bullying incident in junior high that ends in her teacher's demise. A third narrative thread illustrates this same teacher's earlier slide into alcoholism. While none of these tales eventuates in a cheerful resolution, Morris' combination of masterful drawing and provocative storytelling bespeaks the arrival of a major new talent in graphic fiction. Carl HaysCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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