Maria Llovet's Porcelain #1

Maria Llovet’s Porcelain #1

Ablaze Publishing 2021

By Maria Llovet

Lettered by Saida Temofonte

Beryl’s life in the desert, living with her aunt and her cat, is relatively simple…until the day she finds and enters the Dollhouse. Stuck inside an ever changing mystery house that hunts children and turns them into dolls, Beryl goes on a psychedelic journey where she must face the notion of her own limitations and move past them...before she becomes the building’s newest prey.

I have said that Maria is one of today’s most refreshing and intriguing new voices to hit the comics scene in years and I stick by this statement. This book reaffirms everything I believe about her and her storytelling ability. This is a mysterious and oddly romantic take on something truly horrific that is going to happen to Beryl. From what we see here it has these shades of the Wizard of Oz and Little Red Riding Hood in that she’s not supposed to stray off the path and there’s monsters in them there woods, though it’s a desert not a woodland but the similarity remains in my eyes. That it does have that romanticism aspect to it takes what we see to a whole new level of fearsome and creepiness as something so beautiful being so horrific is that special combination of terrifying.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is impeccably rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter do wonders in bringing the characters, Beryl in particular, to life. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, the world and the characters we’re treated to the beginning of something extraordinary.

I really appreciate the way that we see this being structured as well as how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. The layers contain the characterisation and the plot twists that are bold and the more subtle aspects as well. The depth, dimension and complexity that these add to the story is amazing to see. The way that everything is working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately rendered.

The interiors here are absolutely bloody gorgeous! The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work we see throughout the book is marvellous. I absolutely adore how we see the utilisation of backgrounds throughout the book as well as they enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is utterly brilliant as well. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is done with such precision and skill. Then there are moments like the bow in her hair with the red dots that don’t possess black linework at all that really pops, her lips are like this as well. The creativity and imagination that we see is beautifully demonstrated.

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I absolutely adore this book. There is something about the way that this is being presented, told and crafted that takes the readers’ imagination for a ride on the wild side of fear and horror. Where innocence is lost and the only destination is fear itself, that's where you’ll find me. With some of the most amazing writing and characterisation wrapped up in these stunningly beautiful interiors this is what you NEED to be reading.