MASKS by Aaron Rintoul (Septagon Studios)
MASKS is a psychological thriller written and illustrated by Aaron Rintoul.
Well, “illustrated” is an understatement here as the pages within MASKS are a visual buffet for your eyes. You will spend so much time on each page admiring the art which is a combination of photography and digital art, that you’ll forgive him for writing such a short story. This art style isn’t something new but Aaron does it beautifully here.
Follow Sara as she delves into her own mind and discovers she can see through the eyes of a serial killer! Is she losing her mind? Can she stop the killer? Or is she just dreaming?
I read the 3 issue mini series for the purpose of this review and it really didn’t become clear to me what was happening to Sara until I read issue 2. If you read the graphic novel then it should all just flow together.
In the midst of my reading MASKS, a thought did occur to me that this story might have been better served if Aaron had found a way to do the graphic novel with just pictures and no words instead. It would also leave people to make their own interpretations.
As I’ve said I wished the story was longer but as Aaron himself has said, his intention was to create a graphic poem, and he certainly has done that here.
MASKS is a book you’ll want to read more than once simply because of the stunning art but also because story elements become clearer upon a second inspection. I’m definitely looking forward to more work from Aaron Rintoul.
(Kenneth Chaw)
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