‘The Shame Trilogy’ is a fantasy graphic novel written by Lovern Kindzierski and art by John Bolton. Mother Virtue is an ugly old lady but full of goodness and everyone in the village likes her, especially the children, who she loves in return. Sadly, she has never had a child of her own. One night, she selfishly wishes for a child of her own and the words are overheard by Slur, a force of dark, dark evil who looks quite a lot like the alien in ‘Alien’. In a bad immaculate conception, Slur implants a life in Mother Virtue which will become a daughter named Shame and will mean trouble for the world.

Mother Virtue takes action to stop Shame after the child is born. She summons the nymphs and dryads of the forest to guard her, turns her home and the woods around it into a living prison then leaves. Shame is indeed powerful and even as a child can bend reality. She is cruel and gives the nymphs and dryads who were her playmates new distorted forms, including enormous breasts like Hugh Hefner’s playmates! The fact that the normal beautiful ladies have small bosoms and only the distorted ones have large may be a sly feminist comment by the artist on our peculiar plastic age or it may not. In general, there’s a lot of female nudity, continuing the fantasy tradition of soft porn that dates back to thirties ‘Weird Tales’ covers featuring ladies being whipped. Anyway, continuing with the story, ‘Shame’s father sends shadow beings to help her escape the prison and she plans exquisite revenge on her mother.

That’s the plot for the first half of book one and I don’t want to give away any more. There’s a nice twist as book two begins. Suffice to say that it’s still a story about good versus evil and evil seems to be doing well if that’s not a misuse of the word. Healers are burned as witches and Shame’s army is crushing all opposition. She hangs about her palace dressed a bit weirdly to show off her breasts and thighs. The use of sexual imagery, nubile young ladies beautifully drawn by John Bolton, is presumably meant to attract male readers. The use of women as the most powerful figures in the story should attract female readers. It’s only fair to warn potential purchasers that it all gets pretty dark at times and this isn’t one for the children.

All in all, it’s pretty good. John Bolton’s art is absolutely outstanding, every panel a thing of beauty and of pen and ink and watercolour. Even if you didn’t like the story you could buy this just for the art. The hardcover edition is gorgeously printed on lush paper and is magnificent just as an artefact. There are many splash pages you could cut out and frame and put on the walls. But please note that the story is entertaining, too. There are bonus features as well, a long interview in the back of the book with the artist and writer and some character sketches and background on its creation. The graphic equivalent of extras on a DVD, I suppose.

A lovely book that may one day be a prized collectors’ item so snap it up quick if you like this sort of thing. I do.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at www ( )

Pros: lush artwork, bonus features

Cons: nudity started to feel excessive

When the white witch Virtue makes a selfish wish for a child, the demon Slur grants that wish. He taunts her that their daughter, Shame, will be a tool of evil. To prevent Shame from damaging the world, Virtue contains her in a forest grove. But evil cannot be contained.

Shame is comprised of three comics: Conception, Pursuit, and Redemption. There’s a forward by Colleen Doran, a preface by Lovern Kindzierski, and a preview of the next comic in the series, Tales of Hope. It also contains a discussion about Shame between Lovern Kindzierski, John Bolton, and Alexander Finbow (publisher and editor in chief of Renegade Arts Entertainment) that includes some concept and finished artwork, the original outline for the Shame graphic novel, and some panel description to finished copy artwork stills.

Graphic novel artwork can be hit or miss for me. John Bolton’s artwork is lush and descriptive. It is done in photorealistic watercolours and form a mix of gorgeous and grotesque. When the artwork aims for beautiful it’s stunning. When it doesn’t, there are hideous, misshapen creatures. I really liked the artwork around the young Virtue in book 2, and a lot of Shame’s medieval outfits in book 3. Personally I’m not so keen on the grotesque side of art, and so many panels were not to my liking. Virtue’s old form, for example, is the unattractive, warty witch from traditional fairytales.

There’s a fair amount of nudity, as fits the adult nature of this fairytale. Some of it felt warranted, like the nymphs, though at times it started to feel gratuitous, as when nipples were visible through opaque cloth. Having said that, there is no sexual violence or gratuitous sex depicted.

I’d expected the plot to have a more Pandora’s Box feel, showing how the world changed when shame was introduced to it, but that’s not what happened. It’s a clear cut story of evil versus good, where true evil cannot be redeemed, and pure good cannot be corrupted. Only a man of fate, standing between them, has the ability to choose which side to join, and thereby change the outcome.

Slur and his minions are quite terrifying in execution. Their guiding of Shame down the dark path is chilling.

As someone who doesn’t believe in original sin or that the sins of the parents damn their children, I was surprised that Virtue simply left the child and didn’t even try to prevent her corruption (though the assumption is that Shame is automatically corrupt, I would argue that the fact that she wonders why her mother abandoned her shows she could have turned another way).

It’s an interesting story with a unique art style. ( )