Book Reviews Of The Month – Night Animals: A Diptych About what Rushes through the Bushes

Top Shelf Productions

Written and Art by Brecht Evens

Imagine, if you will, dressing up like a rabbit to catch a bus that never shows. As the sun goes down you see signs telling you where to go and they lead you on a path that you never saw and into a world that you never knew existed (yeah, I know, it sounds like something from the Twilight Zone). That’s the first story in Night Animals. The second being a story of a woman who’s learning to be a gymnast, when suddenly she matures and the natural thing happens when a woman matures. Think the beginning of a classic Stephen King book and movie. That night, she’s taken off to another world where she’s made queen. At least that’s what I think.

There’s one main thing that sticks out about these two stories, they don’t have any speaking, no dialog. This isn’t the first comic book without speaking that I’ve seen but it just caught me off guard. Both stories do flow and lead you to a true ending and both of them made me think, made me question. Some of my questions may not have been what the writer had in mind but some most likely where. Also, the art in the stories fit for what they were trying to portray. I was taken to these different worlds, again the goal for that was met.

Truly, I can say that I’ve never read anything like this before. There are times when you have to throw something out there that makes everyone question, this is one of those. Just to give you the heads up, don’t let kids read these, it’s not for them. I’d guess about fifteen and up. In my humble opinion, if you want to have something that makes you think, this would be it. If not, you want something that is more a traditional read and try something else. Of course, let me know either way.