GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Poison Flowers and Pandemonium by Richard Sala
By d. emerson eddy — I think my first exposure to Richard Sala's work was the Evil Eye series from Fantagraphics in the late '90s. I don't think I had seen anything quite like what he was doing with both “Reflection in a Glass Scorpion” and “Peculia”, blending some pulp storytelling sensibilities with horror and humor, topped off with a truly unique, exaggerated art style. There was a raw verve to it, reminding me of how I felt when I first saw some Basil Wolverton art, that was instantly captivating. From there, I regularly checked in on his work, being vastly entertained over the years by some incredible work like his contribution to IDW's Little Book of Horror, Cat Burglar Black, Violenza, The Grave Robber's Daughter, and The Bloody Cardinal. Richard Sala sadly passed away almost exactly a year ago, but to honor his passing, Fantagraphics is set to release this collection of four uncollected works in Poison Flowers & Pandemonium.
The book is a joy, spotlighting the variety to his work and giving readers a chance at one last look at new brilliant material. The first of the stories is a sequel to The Bloody Cardinal, The House of the Blue Dwarf. It's about all you could possibly ask for when it comes to a synthesis of some of Sala's best work, bringing together oddities, a bit of surrealism, and an approach to pulp criminals that make Dick Tracy's rogues look downright normal. It's a wonderful story, told mostly from the perspective of Phillipa Nicely, a young psychic and telekinetic, as she unwittingly infiltrates the baddies' number. You definitely get the impression that Sala was building for something bigger in this series, but this is still a satisfying weird noir tale.
The next two entries, Monsters Illustrated and Cave Girls of the Lost World, really show off the variety of Sala's storytelling skills. The first is essentially a series of pin-ups of various monsters across folklore and pop culture nestled within a framing story of a woman reading said book in a creepy bookstore. Gorgeous full page illustrations here of everything from Star Trek salt monsters to traditional werewolves. It's really a treat to see Sala's renditions of these monsters. Likewise does Cave Girls of the Lost World take a unique storytelling approach, taking the form of a found journal, alternating a text page and a full page illustration. Telling a tale in the vein of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World only with a crashed plane full of young women, sparking the imagination of the youngster who found the book in the framing story.
This volume is closed out by another traditional comics story, Fantomella, leaning into the same kind of pulp sensibilities as The Bloody Cardinal, but in a straightforward tale of revenge. The action here is wonderful.
Poison Flowers & Pandemonium, I think, is not just a beautiful final testament to the joy, weirdness, and humor found in Sala's work, but a tribute to many of the elements that inspired him, from pulp vigilantes through early speculative adventure to b-movie horror. While it's very sad that we'll not get to see more of his brilliance, this collection is something to be cherished.
GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Poison Flowers and Pandemonium by Richard Sala
Poison Flowers & Pandemonium
Writer & Artist: Richard Sala
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Just a couple of months before his tragic passing in March 2020, cartooning master of the macabre Richard Sala completed his final book ― or, actually, his final four books. Poison Flowers and Pandemonium collects all four of these original graphic novellas in one beautiful hardcover worthy of Sala's legacy. First up in Poison Flowers is "House of the Blue Dwarf," a 125-page thriller featuring master criminal the Bloody Cardinal, who leaves a wake of mayhem and madness everywhere he goes. "Monsters Illustrated" is a fun, 64-page monster movie riff that showcases Sala's visual imagination. A young woman in a dusty bookstore reads a strange bestiary ― the "book within a book" showcases a series of Sala's gorgeous watercolor and ink drawings. But when she gets to the end, she finds the bookseller drives a hard bargain. "Cave Girls Of The Lost World" is a campy, 60-page romp about a team of young women whose plane crashes in a land forgotten by time and rife with dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and apemen ― but these intelligent, brave, and resourceful women are ready to rumble! Rounding out the book is "The Amazing Adventures of Fantomina Fantomella," a 45-page graphic novella of violence and non-stop action. Priest and his mob thought Fantomina was dead. So how is it that she's come back with a vengeance? Poison Flowers & Pandemonium is a perfect showcase of Sala's gorgeous watercolor artwork and his love of B-movie horror, silent film-era archetypes, and femmes fatale.
Release Date: May 4, 2021
Price: $18.99
Buy It Here: Poison Flowers and Pandemonium
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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.
