Last month I read and reviewed the first volume of the French comic The Nightmare Brigade. As I was rushing to get the book returned to my local library, I didn't treat it as a Family Comic Friday offering. I saw it on the new shelf in the kids graphic novel section at the library. From reading the back cover I knew that this was going to be a different kind of read. But I didn't expect to be blown away by the amazing storytelling of the first volume!
When I got to the last page, I was incensed! The first volume, which collected English translations of the first two issues, closed on a cliff hanger! I couldn't believe it! The revelation made on that very last page is what made me research when the second book was coming out. Thankfully, I learned on the Papercutz website that my wait would only be a month. And as I said, I immediately ordered me a copy of book 2!
When we left the residents of the sleep clinic, amnesiac Esteban learned the truth about his missing past. To begin this volume, Esteban awakens to find he's home??? The man and woman who own the house claim to be his parents and that Esteban's time at Doctor Albert Angus' facility was a delusion. If that's all true, where are the rest of the Nightmare Brigade?
Heading to the clinic, Esteban finds it overrun by the performers of a strange circus. The clinic staff have been held hostage. Friends Tristan and Sarah are missing and Dr. Angus has been drugged and placed inside the sleep chamber. Even worse, the evil patient Leonard appears to be freed from his cell and running the whole operation!
As with volume 1, this book reprints 2 issues of the French series. With how trippy and twisty the first segment was, I was seriously wondering if my love for this series was premature. I had imagined this was what the movie Inception was like, if I had seen the film. But by the time I finished the second story, I realized that my wavering faith in The Nightmare Brigade was premature.
I can personally attest that all of the mysteries that were put forth in the first volume are answered in this edition. I wondered if such a move by author Franck Thilliez might have been a mistake. Yet by the end of the book, there's about a half dozen more riddles that need solving. They've got me hooked again! But this time, I don't have a clue when they're gonna release book 3!
The horror!
Neither Amazon nor publisher Papercutz has a recommended age group for this book. Therefore, I'm going to have the recommendation myself. I would say based on the scary characters, the intense physiological mystery and the occasional mild swear, readers who are in grades 4th-7th should have no trouble enjoying this book. Though I wouldn't be surprised if young adult readers as well as parents and guardians become as obsessed as I am with the Nightmare Brigade.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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