Caitlin Skaalrud’s debut graphic novel is an intensely personal exploration of the artist’s own turbulent psyche. Skaalrud is already well known as a strong poetic voice in the world of indie comics thanks to her own micropress, Talk Weird Press, and her part in organizing the Autoptic Comics Festival in Minneapolis, Minn.
The protagonist of Houses of the Holy is a troubled young woman looking to repair her damaged mind and soul as she descends into a suffocating depression. The stark black lines of Skaalrud's drawings are reminiscent of European expressionist woodcuts of old. At first surreal and disconnected, her images eventually grow in symbolic impact and seem to unlock the readers’ most closely guarded thoughts.
Despite its lack of dialogue, Skaalrud’s graphic and poetic expressions of inner turmoil are affecting and honest, built over time through a collection of moody visual hints that point to mysterious past events in the heroine's life.
Houses of the Holy (9781941250051) will be published by Uncivilized Books on November 10th.
