Animatronics, self-sustaining heads, zombies, vampires, romantic snakes, martians, mad scientists, President Abraham Lincoln and many more improbable, impossible creations that can only be, and are accurately described by the author/artist as…curious objects; invade this graphic novel comprised of short stories that keeps one turning the page.
The Amazing Screw-on Head and Other Curious Objects
By Mike Mignola
Dark Horse Books
September 2010
An entertaining and visually stimulating work that has no rhyme or reason from page to page accept to achieve just that…no rhyme or reason. The imagination that went into this work is so sporadic that one wants to continue reading to not only complete the story they’ve started, but to also see where the author could possibly take the story next. Because, there is no predicting from story to story, page to page, or even panel to panel, as a reader you can’t help but be entertained and involved with your own imagination. One story may have you fighting zombies at the request of a great American president. Another will have your heart strings jolted for the romance between a snake and a magician. Even ghosts make an appearance working with the martians. And, even as each story becomes more outlandish than the next, you become more curious as one loses oneself going from story to story.
The artwork in the story is also very detailed and will keep you examining it, long after you have finished a panel. The backgrounds, which are often left undefined in graphic novels, have as much details in them as the main characters in the foreground. Also, the author’s use of shadowing interestingly conveys a sense of darkness, coupled with the types of characters from the occult, but which directly contradicts with the nature of the story, to form a very interesting nature while reading. As though one should feel scared, but cannot help but smile at the absurdity the stories take you through in this dark world.
The Amazing Screw-on Head and Other Curious Objects is a great read. If anything, it is entertaining to let your mind wander with the stories and have something that can be taken at face value. Finally, to add to the reader’s enjoyment and help bring light into an otherwise entertaining confusion; the author completes the work with a few short synopses on each story, explaining how they all came to fruition for him. A very entertaining work.
