Eva - a Graphic Novel Review

"Excuse me, I got car trouble. May I use your phone to call a garage? "

When Sanne asks this question to the strange occupant of an abandoned country house, I think right a way; is this going to be a second-rate horror story or a bad porn comic? Fortunately, it turns out to be neither of those. Although there is quite a bit of tension and some female nudity, by the way.

Host Yvan has a strange hobby, building lifelike robots. Now is that on itself not that strange, but his attitude towards them is. He conducts whole conversations with them and treats them as if they were real people. Sanne, who of course is forced to stay for a while, soon meets the equally strange twin sister of Yvan; Eve. An sinister story with an exciting ending follows.

This graphic novel comes from one of my favourite series; the Wordt Vervolgd Novels. The reason for this is because publisher Casterman gives the writers and illustrators ample opportunity to structure the story well. Because not everything has to be crammed into 48 pages, the writers can also give the characters a bit more depth this way.

And writer and draftsman Comes also takes the time for that. Although the tempo of 'Eva' from 1985, is somewhat slower than the films of the master of suspense, this graphic novella still feels a bit Hitchcockerian. 'Eva' is a solid psychological thriller of which the story structure and suspense reminds me a bit of that of Psycho. Comes' love for film is not only reflected in the way he writes the story, but also in the fact that he incorporates various film stars into his story. In their own right they are not important for the story, but as a group they are indeed an important part.

This is Comes' second album that I read. The first was 'The Living God' from 1980. As I wrote in a previous review about this album, I had some mixed feelings about it. With 'Eva' he shows that, in the five years that are between these albums, he has rapidly developed himself into a good scriptwriter. I do not want to go as far as to call him brilliant. As I only read two albums, but I have no doubt that he did reach that level later in life. Unfortunately, he died in 2013. He made his last album in 2006. This is entitled 'The Last'. Applicable? I do not know, but it makes me curious.