The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil

The Gigantic Beard that Was Evil is an awesome comic book. It has all those elements that make any comic to need of capitals because it has high standards regarding the quality of the Art and an unusual but poignant story.Stephen Collins has a great drawing technique that mixes naturalistic drawing, illustration an vector-like images with cartoonish characters. Everything is drawn with precise lines, very tidy even when the story gets messy, but the use of charcoal pencil gives texture, softness, chiaroscuro and warmth. I absolutely loved the framing and compositing of the vignettes and lettering, and how the text spreads organically throughout the page and the vignettes in unconventional ways.However, what makes this book special to me, is that it has that little-something that elevates any graphic book from cute and fun to excellent and timeless, and that is the story and the narrative. The book is well written, with a very concise and precise style, and takes readers into a humorous slightly Kafkaesque ride.The Gigantic Beard... is a wonderful brilliant fable about how Society and Culture react to change, differences and "the other". It shows how Society fears people who are different because, by being so, they question the values and ways of living on which the majority stands; so Society will react badly to any person who deviates from the standard behaviour, sexual orientation, gender role, or religious beliefs.At the same time, it shows how Society hates and fears any transformation that shakes its core and questions its foundations. Surprisingly enough, History proves time and time again that, once those changes occur and the interrupters provoke the change, Society will come to recognise how important their disruption and disrupters were for Society to advance; yet, Society criticised, ostracised, mocked, persecuted and/or killed those very people who were the engines of social change. Just two examples. The impressionist painters of the 19the century and the cubists and abstracts painters of the 20th century were heavily criticised, disregarded and their talent questioned, yet, they are the masters we all admire nowadays. The suffragists of the early 20th century were ridiculed, jailed and considered crazy for saying that women had a brain and were perfectly able and capable to decide and cast a vote on their own.Finally, the story also tells us that, at times, change begins with one person changing, the rest will eventually follow up.I read this book in the hard-copy edition Very good quality thick grainy paper, well bound, so one can open it without a problem, and really durable.Original, enjoyable, thought-provoking and wonderful black-and-white Art.

THE GIGANTIC BEARD THAT WAS EVIL draws much inspiration from the macabre gothic cartoons of Edward Gorey, who had the perfect name for drawing macabre gothic cartoons. Stephen Collins does not have as perfect a name, but he does have quite a keen understanding of why Gorey’s art worked in the first place. Under the aesthetic is a keen understanding of what people fear, why they fear it, and what they do with that fear.Unlike Gorey, however, Collins is less cynical and more hopeful. THE GIGANTIC BEARS THAT WAS EVIL begins as a satire in the style of a fable, about how the presence of the unexplained throws society off its hinges, unmooring us from our tidy lives. It ends in a place where we see what can emerge in the fallout of such chaos. There is always hope.In many ways, this was the perfect book to read during the COVID-19 pandemic, a seemingly random act that has ripped us all out of our tidy lives and forced each of us to reconsider our relationship with the world in which we live as well as with one another. Comics like this are profoundly cathartic, and no image is as profound as watching Dave being carried away with his beard attached to a fleet of balloons—it is an image that shows us how fear can become transcendent. Existential dread can become hope.As I said, while this graphic novel draws inspiration from Edward Gorey, it does not dwell in the same place.

I loved this book--even more than I originally anticipated.The back blurb, title, and art made me think I was in for a lighthearted, whimsical adventure that would be every bit of fun as it was ridiculous. However, this was not that book. It's much more somber than I anticipated.True, it still has whimsy and is a bit ridiculous, but it went so much deeper than what I would've guessed from a book with such a title. Fun as it is, it has something to say about the world and does so without beating us over the head with its preaching or morals.Instead, Collins presents a fun tale--often told in rhyme--that explores the nature of our world and society. Even better, it's accompanied by gorgeous artwork. I often found myself studying a page in awe of the graceful lines and ethereal tone.It's an excellent book, no way around it. It's only too bad that the title and blurb don't fully capture the tone and depth presented here. Then again, perhaps that's another ploy for the "insides" to overpower the "outsides."

I wanted to love this book. The premise is unique and I love the atmosphere. However, I found it super repetitive and eventually boring. The creator no doubt has talent. This just didn't click with me.

This was required summer reading for a raising 7th grader. She enjoyed it and liked exploring where the author was going with the story.

So I got the book today and so far what I've read seems pretty good. The problem I've had is that I purchased it from PB Sales and the front cover had a huge sticker on the front that when I pulled off it left a huge mark. For some people this wouldn't be a big deal but I'm obsessed with books and love to display them, etc. If I had known that it would be like this I wouldn't have bought it. The rating is for the business not the book.

This is a good book for these days when everybody is panicking over things like Ebola. It seems like most people would rather worry or believe in conspiracy theories than take the time to learn what's going on. As this graphic novel points out, the things that scare us become things we one day don't think about much anymore.

The illustrations were beautiful, the subtle cross hatching was quite lovely. The most fun is the storyboard, I like the pages that were totally covered in lines. Story has clever twists and witty hidden messages.

I had a day off work this week with some class of cough and cold combination and spent the better part of it engrossed in Stephen Collins’s The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil, a fable-like tale of a perfectly ordered world being disrupted by a sudden invasion of inexplicable facial hair. This is a comic strip book I guess, in that the story’s told via a series of beautiful and simple pencil drawings laid out in panels with spare rhyming captions providing quiet narration, but it’s got more in common with the writings of Franz Kafka or Kazuo Ishiguro than it has with anything produced by Marvel or 2000 AD. For the first half of the book we follow the daily routine of a seemingly ordinary office worker called Dave, who goes to work every day to produce bland spreadsheets and charts and then goes home to spend his evenings listening to The Bangles and sketching the street that he can see from his window. The town (actually, island) that he lives is in known simply as Here and is kept pathologically neat and clean and free from unsightly expressions of individuality but this doesn’t seem to be due to any oppression from above – it’s more to do with an underlying fear of the unknown, and the unknown is represented by There, the unruly wilderness that lies all around the island, just across the sea. One terrible day There finds a way to establish a presence on Here through a moment of uncertainty on the part of Dave and we’re thereafter shown the ways that the powers-that-be struggle to contain this unholy infection.Gigantic Beard is, despite its slightly self-consciously wacky title, a really quite eerie work that refuses most of the opportunities for cheap humour that present themselves in favour for some touching insight into the thinness of the veneer of civilisation and the quiet despair that permeates a life spent in meaningless routine. Which is not to say it’s not also very funny in places and brilliantly rendered throughout, with the muted greyscale tones aptly fitting the subject matter and some imaginative framing and subversion of comic book conventions providing more than adequate relief from the potentially depressing subject matter. I’ve read stories like this before but can’t remember ever seeing one drawn, and it’s great that something as offbeat as this can get published.

Wacky, beautifully illustrated and with probably the best book title in the history of book titles! It's a sort of Raymond Briggs for adults, but less depressing. I think, to be honest, we rather impulsively bought this book for the title and cover illustration, but as it turned out the story was compelling and beautifully illustrated too. Essentially a book about a freak beard that challenges thinking and encourages change in a world of conformity. Brilliant!

Very atmospheric book you really get a feel for how bleak this characters life is. Every panel and page is used so well to full effect. You can see the thought that's gone into constructing this story.If you've been made even slightly curious by the title, buy it now you won't be disappointed.

I have never bought a graphic novel before but I love his cartoons in the Guardian's Weekend magazine.This does not disappoint; funny, touching....there are so many words I could use to describe this but you should check it out for yourself. The guy is a genius.

I’m amazed by this book - the narrative and the illustration are fantastic. It would make a great gift to anyone that likes a good graphic novel (or to anyone, really!!)