Graphic novel review: Haphaven
Short version: When Alexia’s father is killed, she turns to an obsession with superstitions. Then her mother falls into a coma, and she is visited by a leprechaun who tells her that her family is cursed, and the only cure is to get involved in the politics of an alternate world where superstition is not only fact, but law.
What I thought: Got a mixed feel here. On the one hand it feels very tight and intentional like a movie, and on the other, that’s not really what you look for in a graphic novel. At least, not what I look for. I like complicated characters, political intrigue that’s got more than a couple of players, and world-building that hints at a vast expanse that’s way bigger than just the people we see. Haphaven doesn’t do those things, but it was not intended as an adult graphic, so a lot of it’s forgivable.
What I do like is that because it’s not meant as an adult graphic, the thinking of the prepubescent mind shows up fast and strong, and it works. Alexia doesn’t even question it when a leprechaun shows up in her bedroom, doesn’t think it’s weird that her mother falls into a coma directly after she stepped on a crack (”break your mother’s back”), and doesn’t waste any time diving straight into the fairy world and learning its rules at running speed. You don’t have to waste any time with the whole ”this can’t be real” schpiel you hear so often in these types of situations because Alixia is already so used to believing in weird stuff without question.
It raises a lot of points about free will and how much influence your family history actually does have, not to mention a wonderfully human approach to an annoyingly random element (a certain pistol will fire something with unlimited ammo, but never the same thing twice. It could be a bullet, it could be cotton candy, it could be the person next to you). Unfortunately, the graphic does this by being a bit repetitive, and I felt like it could have just made each point once if it had been more powerfully written. Overall a good, light story that had the potential to be much more impactful but got shy at the last second.
Read if you liked: Estranged by Ethan Alridge, Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi, Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison.
