Monster Party (Gahan Wilson’s…)

(iBooks, 2003)
™ and © iBooks

When it comes to effective storytelling, you just can’t beat the economy of the single panel cartoon. When done right, it can convey volumes, and Gahan Wilson can rightly be called the modern master of the form.

There’s plenty of evidence to back up that claim in this handy paperback that features appearances by everyone from Sherlock Holmes to the Frankenstein Monster in cartoons that range from the deceptively simple line drawing to the most lushly shaded and detailed.

Of course, Wilson’s specialty is the gruesome, and he could teach today’s crowd of pseudo-Goth-punk artists a thing or two about depicting the macabre without falling into the trap of depending on the gross-out for cheap laughs. Seeing so much of his work at once makes the reader wonder: Now that Fantagraphics will be collecting the Complete Peanuts, where’s Wilson’s definitive collection?

— S.A. Bennett

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