The Washington Post
(US Regional Newspaper) [Book World supplement]
14 February 1999
Strangehaven:
Arcadia, by Gary Spencer Millidge (Abiogenesis, $14.95), compiles the first
six issues of an irregularly published comic from the U.K.
Protagonist Alexander Hunter has had an accident near the small village of Strangehaven,
which he seems to have a hard time leaving -- when he tries, he ends up back
in the same place, and nobody seems to have any maps. So, by default, Hunter
decides to stick around for a while, and why not? The people are friendly enough,
if a bit odd, and a cute local named Janey seems to have taken a liking to him.
Another thread in the story has to do with a group of Masonic wannabes called
the Knights of the Golden Light. Meanwhile, one of the pasty-faced Brits, who
claims he was trained as a shaman in his native Brazil, has taken one of the
village kids under his wing to learn some mystical secrets (or something). And
there's this bicycle courier-looking guy who claims he's from a planet called
Nimoi and speaks a mumbo-jumbo of stoner science and philosophy.
The overall effect is creepy, but creepy lite; there isn't enough here to keep
things interesting. This comic shows influences from television shows such as
"The Prisoner" and "Twin Peaks," but Strangehaven seems
to have been created merely so that the author could stash a number of unrelated
deep thoughts in it. This comic's most interesting aspect is its art -- the
panels have an unusual photorealistic look, as if they'd been traced from actual
photographs. [Mike Musgrove]
©1999
The Washington Post Company
If you've read any notable pieces concerning Strangehaven that may have escaped
our attention and does not appear here, we'd like to hear about them! E-mail
us at webmonkey@millidge.com
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All
text and images (c) copyright Gary
Spencer Millidge/Abiogenesis Press All rights reserved.
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