Comic Review: When I Arrived at the Castle

“It has a stink you know…Your meekness. It makes me want to vomit.”

When I Arrived at the Castle
Emily Carroll

On a dark rainy night, a young lady is welcomed into a castle, a young lady who has come to murder a countess, like the many before her who never returned.

For those of you who may not know me, horror is not my thing. My one exception is anything Emily Carroll creates.

The blurb for this one is so short because this comic is so short, probably its only fault. I loved Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods arrangement of dark stories. She continues in When I Arrived at the Castle to create evocative niche horror comics that settle into your bones and leave you wondering, because as is her custom, she does not explain. To explain would be to take away the very element of what makes her macabre art so luscious.

When I Arrived at the Castle is colored in Carroll’s signature black, white, and red palette. Previous works have had hints of yellow or blue, but she stays strictly within those three shades for this comic. Her line art is simultaneously beguiling and revulsion inducing. The story, as always, feels like a sinewy fairytale – the original kind told to scare children into behaving.

There is nothing I didn’t like about this short comic story. It begged to be reread, and I did so immediately upon finishing it. Some people (like me) might ask “why?” after the end. I love that I get to create my own answer, and so does every reader. The beauty of presenting the horror without the “why” is all in the interpretation. I did miss the lyricism that she seemed to have perfected in Through the Woods though, which made this tale feel a lot more “present,” rather than curated.

There was a dark eroticism to this story as well that makes me glad none of the libraries who ordered it in my system mistakenly placed it into their YA collections (although the *gasp* nipple and cleavage on the cover would hopefully alert them of their error). I can see how other reviewers would tack on the “lesbian” tag, and while I probably will too, it felt more animalistic, even monstrous, than such a human label would imply. Then again, why can’t there be erotic lesbian monster horror? Things to keep in mind…

If all these things I mentioned above do not illicit an excited squeak from you, this is not the comic for you. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d recommend this as someone’s first exposure to her work either, since it’s just one story. Through the Woods is definitely a better jumping off point.

But, if what I mentioned above did strike a chord with you, and you haven’t read Emily Carroll’s works before, prepare to find a new author whose work begs to be revisited time and time again.

If you can’t find a copy of her work at your local library, never fear, her online portfolio is a good source for creepy digital goodies to tide you over until your physical edition comes.