Mini Review: Toys in the Basement by Stephane Blanquet

Toys in the Basement by Stéphane Blanquet

Release Date: December 6th 2010
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Source: My collection
Author: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository Add it: Goodreads

With appearances in such anthologies as Zero Zero, BLAB!, and Kramers Ergot, Stephane Blanquet has been delighting and terrifying American readers with his superslick, ultradetailed creepiness.

So it makes perfect sense that his first graphic novel to be published in the U.S. would be a children’s book? Yes indeed.

Our hero, attending a Halloween party in an embarrassing pink bunny costume (he wanted to be a pirate) stumbles across a secret society of damaged, forgotten, and pissed-off toys in the basement of his friend’s house – including the terrifying Amlie, not an adorable gamine played by Audrey Tautou but a towering sentient assemblage of broken toy parts out for revenge!

Imagine Toy Story as reimagined by David Lynch and Charles Burns and you’ll have a good idea of what this story is like. And yes, it is for kids!

 

Well the synopsis has one thing right… It is definitely a darker version of Toy Story (Toy Story 3 really). I knew it was going to be a little strange because it was published by Fantagraphics and this is the second book of theirs that I own.  Do I recommend this for kids? Probably not. This is a story about broken toys who absolutely hate children and would like to see them all gone.

When two children at a costume part stumble upon some broken toys in the basement. The toys mistake them for stuffed animals and they are led through a tunnel to a secret cave full of broken toys. Soon enough their cover is broken and all hell breaks loose. It wasn’t too bad of a story but the ending was sort of a disappointment. The book was so short and the story really didn’t go anywhere.

I enjoyed the artwork because it was pretty detailed but I don’t think children would like the artwork at all because it is pretty creepy.

 

Oh and a sidenote** The authors website has some rated R stuff so I didn't include a link...

 

My Rating: