“Tales of the Mist” by Laura Suárez is a folkloric countryside graphic novel featuring multiple short stories about devil superstitions in 1930 Spain. The tone is mysterious and gothic, this is about the country beliefs by the folks who worked hard all their lives and had very little hope. It is haunting and curious and beautiful.
The greyscale drawings are truly beautiful and the faces of all the characters are deeply personal. They will not be at everyone’s taste, they are sad looking with a lot of character, but it is hard to tell who are the older characters, the daughters from the mothers, the handsome from the plain. It did not bother me, I liked the atmosphere they transpired, the general emotion and personality they breathed, but they are not beautiful in the classic sense. The scenery and housing drawings also had a lot of personality and the grey everywhere makes it feel like it is all happening in a perpetual twilight and darkness, which it probably is, after all the devil only seems to come out at night.
The stories are all about a particular superstition, strange ideas that were current at the time, in the area, and drag you into this fantasmagoric world. I really liked it, it reminded me of one of my favorite mangas Mushishi and if you liked it too I highly recommend this work to you. It is not as connected and deep (after all it is just a fraction of the volume) but it really manages something similar in the European context.
Suarez managed a wonderful comic, I am not surprised that she dug heavily into the stories of her grandmother and I am so happy she decided to share. I look forward to reading more of her work!
Sholm Pearly 
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