The Beauty

The Beauty is a fascinating horror comic at the intersection of body horror and disease. A disease has spread that transforms the infected into a conventionally beautiful version of themself. But is this disease, The Beauty, too good to be true? I'm enjoying both the art and storyline. I think it's a pretty short run, and I definitely feel like the pacing is a bit quick, but I'm excited to see where this one goes. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2.5 stars

The cover attracted me. It's gorgeously creepy. It's a dystopian tale. It seems to have social commentary. So I went out on a limb and tried it.

It's okay. The art is decent, but not as glorious as the cover art. I hate that. Like Tokyopop's ‘Labyrinth' manga, with cover art by Shurei Kouyu-sensei–and lackluster art inside. It's basically like the comic blows its wad on the cover, although the inside art is all right.

And when I read the intro, I expected some horror.

No, that will not be the case, at least for the first few chapters. It's a buddy cop thriller in which a new STI has emerged, one that makes the infected beautiful. People actually want to catch this disease. But eventually, people start spontaneously combusting because of it. There's big pharma/political conspiracies here; it's a thriller more than horror, which is disappointing. The two main characters are all right but bland, and the plot is pretty standard procedural genre tropes. One of the villains of the arc is supposed to be a big bad, but he's only in it for a few pages–just enough to heavy-handedly know he's a nasty piece of work–but then he dies before we learn anything about him, so he's really pointless.

The idea behind this graphic novel could have been interesting, but the execution was mediocre. I'll probably HPB this one at some point, or donate it to the library. But I might look into it to see if it improves any. If it does, I'll hang onto it.

Bravo, sirs. Really though, kudos. I never thought that I'd be able to say that I was intrigued by an STD, but Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley have accomplished that for me. When we think of STDs, we think of them as things we don't want to contract. They are uncomfortable, embarrassing, and often terrifying in the way that they manifest themselves. In the world of The Beauty, that's all changed. What if you could contract and STD that would make you flawless? Perfect skin, perfect hair, no known side effects. If Haun and Hurley are right, that would spread like wildfire.

Oh, this was so good. The first volume of The Beauty does an amazing job of pulling you right into the middle of the story, but leaving a few loose ends dangling out there to keep you reading. I found myself caught up in a mystery. Remember when I said that this disease had “no known side-effects”? Well, they make themselves known fairly soon after you start reading this story, and they aren't pretty. While I could have used a little more background on our main characters, I liked them so much that it didn't make a difference after a few pages. I have a feeling more we'll get to know them better very, very soon.

This entire storyline is honestly brilliant though. It spotlights our obsession with fads, with beauty, and with being part of the masses. On the flip side, it also spotlights the terrible things that go on behind the scenes. Like big business having the opportunity to help people, and withholding it for profit. We all suspect that goes on, but Haun actually shows it close up. He takes these normal people, who never even wanted the “gift” they were given, and their struggle to just lead semi-normal lives. Add in an art style that is gorgeous, and an absolutely perfect addition to this story, and you have a series that I'm firmly in love with.

I'm glad I waited for the first trade paperback to come out. I don't know if my heart would have survived single issues. I can tell you right now though, I'm in for the duration of The Beauty. It has hooked me, and I'm completely okay with that.