Bog Bodies Brings Celtic Fury to a Familiar Genre
- WRITER
- Declan Shalvey
- Artist
- Gavin Fullerton
- Letterer
- Clayton Cowles
- Cover Artist
- Declan Shalvey
- Publisher
- Image Comics
- Price
- 12.99
- Release Date
- 2020-04-22
- Colorist
- Rebecca Nalty
For decades, crime comics have brought the dark underbelly of society to life with blood and thunder, as lowlifes fight and die pursuing their illicit interests. Acclaimed creator Declan Shalvey continues to shed light on the little-seen Irish perspective in the genre with co-creator and artist Gavin Fullerton in Image Comics' latest original graphic novel, Bog Bodies. However, while Shalvey previously explored Celtic crime in the 2017 graphic novel Savage Town, his follow-up moves at a considerably more engaging, brisk pace.
Bog Bodies follows a young, Dublin-based hood that finds himself double-crossed by his superiors as they travel deep into the moors outside of the Irish capital. Wounded in the subsequent attempt on his life, the young man flees into the bogs where he discovers a lost young woman as the armed gangsters relentlessly hunt the pair down. However, as the characters venture deeper into the marshes, they find the desolate landscape contains its own macabre secrets revealed by the moonlight.
Shalvey's previous Irish crime yarn, Savage Town -- with co-creator Philip Barrett -- was less a traditional crime story and more of a slice-of-life tale starring unscrupulous figures in the Irish city of Limerick. As such, it moved at a much more deliberate pace, punctuated occasionally by bloody action. Bog Bodies definitely has a sense of urgency that Savage Town lacked; most of the story follows its protagonists literally on the run for their lives. Bog Bodies possesses the same authentic, Celtic swagger as its predecessor -- including subtle nods to being set within the same continuity -- mostly evident through dialogue, but with the man-on-the-run premise, the narrative focus is much tighter.
That isn't to say Shalvey and Fullerton's graphic novel is wall-to-wall action. It's still largely a meditative tale, with surreal flourishes as the story progresses. Shalvey even directly calls to attention how much dialogue there is in the story through his characters, while providing the story with a surprising amount of pitch black comedy with its life-or-death stakes. The creative team isn't afraid to leave its tale to readers' interpretation as more haunting elements are woven into the story, rather than giving the readers' a pat explanation to the proceedings.
While Fullerton previously worked on the BOOM! Studios' original graphic novel adaptation of Patrick McHale's BAGS (Or a Story Thereof), he's given more room to really flex his artistic muscles here. Much of Bog Bodies takes place shrouded in misty darkness but the flow is never hard to follow, thanks to Fullerton and colorist Rebecca Nalty. The character designs have a raw quality to them, reflecting the grit and violence from the story. Fullerton goes more evocative and ephemeral as the story continues, with the last handful of pages the most haunting and memorable in the entire graphic novel. Nalty's shadows lend just enough mystery and menace to keep readers wondering what sinister developments may arise next.
A more meditative take on the crime genre than most of its immediate counterparts, Bog Bodies breathes new life into a well-worn premise by leaning into the authenticity of Irish culture; it blends modern crime elements with older world sensibilities as it moves further from civilization. Shalvey returns to the world he co-created in Savage Town with a more focused sense of precision in a tougher, meaner tale that isn't looking to take prisoners. With its haunting ending and fugitive pacing, Shalvey and Fullerton expand upon the Irish crime world of Savage Town while delivering a more intense tale than its predecessor in Bog Bodies.