Cover Image: Tales of the Mist

Tales of the Mist

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Member Reviews

Laura Suárez drew from her grandmother’s stories to create a graphic novel with dark and terrifying shades. What she represented are tales of tradition, those that are told in front of a beautiful fire after a day of work, sitting on a rocking chair and surrounded by impressionable ears, before going to sleep. These are the stories told by adults to make children behave, to make them go to sleep early and not delay in the woods. They are set in the north of Spain in the '30s and have as protagonists tormented young men and women and wise old people. Two cousins find the Santa Compaña on their way; a young woman is obsessed with the cry of a newborn baby in "The Air"; the devil persecutes a boy in the third story, while another is linked to death in "The Vidoiro". 
The stories are very interesting, short but full of pathos and intensity. They’re scary stories, tales that on a storm night, like the night I read them, make you look behind your back to make sure you’re alone. 
But the written part is not at all what will make you fall in love with this graphic novel. More than any other work like this, the drawing is extremely evocative. You can feel the terror, the fear that grips your soul and makes your voice tremble. In addition to the sharp features of the faces or the jagged ones of the demons,  even the balloons express the mood of the speaker. In particular I was struck by those of the story "The Devil", dragged  like the cry of those who spoke. 
The drawings are all in black and white, perfect choice for both the tone of the graphic novel, creepy and mysterious, but also to convey the dark period that loomed over the inhabitants of the villages of northern Spain, who were forgetting more and more quickly the stories of their tradition.
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This graphic novel is in fact a collection of five short tales from prewar Spain.
The darkness of the tales comes out really well in the pretty but dark artwork.
I find it slightly disappointing that I was too confused and that I only fully understood the tales once I read the two or three explanation paragraphs at the end...
Despite this I still recommend this graphic novel to anyone looking for dark and eerie tales.
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A chilling collection of Poe-ish stories that would have surely frightened me had I read it during night time. Though I did not overly enjoy the drawings at first, they ultimately created such a brooding atmosphere that I ended up appreciating them. Excessively dark and just my type! Thank you NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing me with this book.
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This was a really interesting graphic novel. I enjoyed reading all these creepy short stories designed to scare children. The graphics went really well with this premise too
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Thank you to NetGalley, Europe Comics, and Laura Suarez for an ARC of this graphic novel. Tales of the Mist is a collection of short stories regarding the way pre-war Spaniards dealt with darkness and death.  These stories were passed around throughout the land as a way to make children behave or else face the consequences....

Wow, were these tales ever creepy...I read them alone at night on my iPad with the lights turned out and it made for a terrifying experience.  The artwork and words come together to weave tales that are so dark and spooky - totally worth the read! The artwork is incredible - I love that it was in black and white as it contributed to the atmosphere of the story fantastically.
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so i didn't know this was a collection of short stories that don't really connect. i kept looking for a way to link characters or legends but it really is just a collection of short stories about various spanish legends of the paranormal. while the art isn't my absolute favourite, i thought the stories were interesting enough. this was a fairly decent introduction to spanish folklore, something i know literally nothing about.

i received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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First of all, I liked the art style. I think it fits the story's dark atmosphere very well. I really enjoyed all the stories. Some of them were too short and I wished they were a little bit longer. But all of them were really good. They were very atmospheric. Overall, this was a fast-paced and really enjoyable read.
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Tales of the Mist has some interesting, spooky short stories with a cool black and white art style. It was a really quick and creepy read.

Likes:
Each individual story fit very well into the overall book. All the stories worked together to create an overall spooky, historical vibe. I was also a pretty big fan of the explanations of the different legends and inspirations for each of the stories. These insights were interesting and I liked that little bit of learning along with each spooky tale.

The art style of the illustrations were great! The black and white minimalism help to create a good horror atmosphere while also putting most of the emphasis on the stories. The art helped to reinforce the overall feeling of the book.

Dislikes/Not My Faves:
I wasn't blown away with the stories themselves for the most part. There was only one that I really liked a lot. All of the other stories maybe just weren't for me as much as I had hoped they would be. Part of this may have to do with my own personal preferences for creepy horror stories, but I just didn't fully vibe with most of the book.

Wrap Up:
This was a fairly solid and spooky graphic novel. I didn't fully mesh with it as much as I thought I would, but at the end of the day I liked it!
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Many thanks to Netgalley and DEurope Comics for providing me with this arc.
The art in this novel was so gorgeous. The pics in the end showed how talented this artist is.
The story however, didn't deliver, I wasn't scared, I'm sorry but I was extremely bored, it wasn't for me unfortunately
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I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel by Laura Suárez. Beautifully illustrated, unlike any graphic novel I’ve read this year. I loved the eerie atmosphere the illustrations and stories evoked. The black and white illustrations really suited the spooky stories in Tales of the Mist.

It was also really interesting to learn about Galician folk lore, myths and scary stories.
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Tales of the Mist is a collection of short stories in graphic novel form, centering on grief folklore and paranormal experiences in a Spanish villages in the 1930s.

The illustrations were haunting, and this book was genuinely scary at times.  I don't think I have a strong enough foundational understanding of Catholicism or enough experience with graphic novels to fully grasp all of the nuances of the stories contained in this volume.
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The artwork in this is truly beautiful, the design and shading really setting the tone for the stories. Unfortunately, I felt the stories themselves were too rushed and the concepts never got a chance to develop. Potentially this is due to me not knowing anything of the original folklore and would be different to those that do.
I personally struggled with some of the formatting choices too, it’s a little jarring going from illustrations to a full page of text, and having the same image cut in to different panels stead of one made no sense to me.  
Although this wasn’t a favourite for me, I would be interested in reading other works drawn or written by the creator.
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“Tales of the Mist” by Laura Suárez is a folkloric countryside graphic novel featuring multiple short stories about devil superstitions in 1930 Spain. The tone is mysterious and gothic, this is about the country beliefs by the folks who worked hard all their lives and had very little hope. It is haunting and curious and beautiful.
The greyscale drawings are truly beautiful and the faces of all the characters are deeply personal. They will not be at everyone’s taste, they are sad looking with a lot of character, but it is hard to tell who are the older characters, the daughters from the mothers, the handsome from the plain. It did not bother me, I liked the atmosphere they transpired, the general emotion and personality they breathed, but they are not beautiful in the classic sense. The scenery and housing drawings also had a lot of personality and the grey everywhere makes it feel like it is all happening in a perpetual twilight and darkness, which it probably is, after all the devil only seems to come out at night. 
The stories are all about a particular superstition, strange ideas that were current at the time, in the area, and drag you into this phantasmagorical world. I really liked it, it reminded me of one of my favourite manga Mushishi and if you liked it too I highly recommend this work to you. It is not as connected and deep (after all it is just a fraction of the volume) but it really manages something similar in the European context. 
Suarez managed a wonderful comic, I am not surprised that she dug heavily into the stories of her grandmother and I am so happy she decided to share. I look forward to reading more of her work!
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This was a nice collection of short spooky tales. The illustrations were amazing and complimented the stories well. Death and religion were a big part of most of the stories. The location of the stories are in small towns in Spain. Some of the stories were a bit too short which left me wishing for a few longer stories.
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A very enjoyable recounting of old Spain folk-lore, of the mythical creatures that go bump in the night. Fun and slightly creepy story telling through beautifully drawn illustrations, open the world to 1930's Spain and the boogeymen that would help assist in keeping children well behaved. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this short and easy read. Getting a glimpse into another cultures "boogeymen" in this medium is an awesome and imagination evoking way of sharing traditional stories of ones culture. It is fascinating to compare the United States "Boogeyman" with Spains and see the coinciding similarities between urban legends here and tales of dubious creatures in Spain. 

A beautifully done work of 4 tales that are sure to have you thinking about the bumps in the night a little more differently.
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To start with I really liked the art in this graphic novel; as well as the pictures added at the back and the context provided with the descriptive pages after each comic. Yet I just wanted more from this. The premise is so interesting: Ghost stories shared by the elder around the fire at night to keep away the shadows... or draw them in. And I just felt like the each comic was too short, as soon as I started getting into the rhythm of the story, it was over. I hope that another edition of this can be released with longer more fleshed out stories.
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This comic was just fine. The story was good, but I think I would have been more engaged if I liked the artwork more. Some pages are spectacular, but most of it kind of takes me out of the creepiness of the story? Like it doesn't quite fit. Especially when a panel was a close up on a character's face.
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Thank you Netgalley for my cope of Tales of the Mist by Laura Suarez. 

What a wonderfully informative and eerie book. I loved the visuals and the dark lore surrounding each short tale. I would defiantly recommend for lovers of dark folklore.
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5/5 stars

Defeated my reading slump, enveloped me in mist and comfort, darkness and love and taught me a lot about looking back in the past, searching out for the stories within your homeland and echoing them in the world. This graphic novel collection of folklore stories from the north of Spain was a perfect read for these stormy, wintery nights and made me want to swallow and absorb more stories, more knowledge, more about the dark corners of the world and the tales spun by ancestors. I strongly recommend for fans of Emily Carroll and Pan's Labyrinth ♥
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It is an interesting comic. It strings together horror folktales that travel from one generation to other via storytelling tradition of human beings.
It's artwork is innovative and suits gothic theme. Short captions and slow storyline is very interesting.
I liked all the stories and their description provided.
A different sort of book for lovers of horror tales.
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