A sea monster feeds on lustful young teenagers who wander too close to the water; but he's more than a scary face. He searches for the person, his true love, who has been throwing tales from the bard into the ocean, message-in-a-bottle style. He speaks in iambic pentameter and is always accompanied by his wise-cracking side-kick crabs (since they, too, enjoy snacking on dead flesh, of course). It's a quirky fun read & I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who already enjoys graphic novels. My *only* complaint is that it wasn't done in color...but likely this was due to monetary reasons since this is the author's debut novel. Hopefully he is successful enough with this delightful tale that his publisher will go ahead & splurge on color next time. The comic timing in this is perfect. (The "Like a fish needs a bicycle!" panel had me laughing aloud. That entire sequence on the boardwalk was hilarious.) The drawings are wonderful, and the combination of the 1960s beach culture, plus 1960s monster movies, plus Shakespeare was just grand. I do wish there had been more character development for Grue, but this wasn't a character-development based story, and that's okay. It was a great comic romp!
What do You think about Dear Creature (2011)?
Equal parts evocative and original, this is a very impressive first book.
—risingson
Absolutely charming and crazy, with top-notch art.
—naatasha
Touching and amusing. This is one of my favorites.
—mehryar
