Pixu: The Mark of Evil – Graphic Novel Review

by | Sep 17, 2015 | Comic/Graphic Novel Reviews, Reviews | 0 comments

28268Pixu: The Mark of Evil
Written and Illustrated by Gabriel Ba, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos and Fabio Moon
Dark Horse Books
September 9, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry

When reviewing graphic novels and whatnot, I like to jot down notes so I remember key moments in stories. My notes for Pixu: The Mark of Evil look something like this:

-Girl eating hair
-Talking birds in jars
-Dr. Weir from Event Horizon?
-CHILD MOLESTER. No.
-WTF.

So. Pixu is a little hard to classify. It’s like the Rubik’s Cube of graphic novels without all the colours and the fun. And much like my notes, the story is all over the place. Here’s the summary swiped from Amazon, only because the words fail me:

This gripping tale of urban horror follows the lives of five lonely tenants–strangers–whose lives become intertwined when they discover a dark mark scrawled on the walls of their building. The horror sprouts quite innocently from a small seed and finds life as something otherworldly. As the walls come alive, everyone is defenseless against a brewing evil.

That sounds awesome. Where can I read that story?

That’s not to say I didn’t get the story. I mean, I think I got it. The five residents (a woman trapped in a relationship, a man whose motto is ‘cleanliness is next to godliness,’ a child molester, an old guy that keeps weird things in jars and a little girl) are all stuck in their own versions of hell. I think. Anyway, the events that transpire throughout the graphic novels’ 130 or so pages seem to happen just for shock value. The storyline about the child molester is definitely a difficult pill to swallow.

The illustrations, although lovely, do become a bit too muddled at times, making it a challenge to understand what’s supposed to be happening. Honestly, I wasn’t even aware the scribbles on the walls were some sort of looming evil – I thought it was some artistic rendering of shadows. But hey, what do I know?

Originally released as a hardcover from Dark Horse Books back in 2009, this 2015 re-issue is the trade paperback edition and includes some new drawings at the end of the story. The illustrations, although often muddy, are the only good thing here, so I can imagine the hardcover probably looks great. As a trade paperback, well, the cover looks amazing.

Unfortunately, good covers aren’t enough to save Pixu: The Mark of Evil. If you pass by it on the shelves, best to keep on walking.

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