Dear Creature - Book Review [Tor]

The idea of withdrawal due to a notion of inferiority is not new in the complex of life but finding a way to integrate it with notions of science fiction and comics has become a mainstay of the culture.With "Dear Creature" [Jonathan Case/Tor/189pgs), the structure is reflected by a predator isolation dictation method in that it wants to show the reader that it is both harmful and advantageous to be able to identify with your prey. The predator, interestingly enough in this instance, is a gargoyle creature from the bottom of the sea with crabs as friends and a fishing pole that casts out six packs of beers in order to lure wanting and making-out teens to their death.Granted this fits within the structure of any would-be horror film but the creature itself speaks in Shakesperean English which makes his ruminations all the more strange. After taking a couple lives of the teens, he tracks another victim to a boat that is landlocked. There he finds a woman hidden away, middle aged and scared of the world. For odd enough reasons, which always surround love, he finds a kindred soul and wants to bring her out into the fray. She unfortunately learns of his violent streak which is nothing more than food gathering for the most part and using the perception we do of fish except in reverse.The storytelling is succinct and naturally genre-based but there is a feeling of patience and intention within the artist/writer. While the world does infilitrate in its beliefs with the concepts of grays, the start black and white penciling leaves the darksness of the sea and the whiteness of the sky unabated realizing that life, like love, deals in absolutes.B-