Count Crowley by David Dastmalchian

Illustrated by Lukas Ketner and Lauren Affe
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From the outsider's perspective, Jerri blew her one chance at being a big-time news anchor because she tried to whistleblow on her male colleague for raping her, but no one believed her.  Now, she's back in her hometown where her brother runs the local station and tries to help his sister out.  Her alcoholism ends her on-air news career at home, but he fixes her up with hosting the late-night horror movie segment as Count Crowley.  Creatures instantly come looking for her, and she seeks out answers with the previous producer of the show.  She finds that there is a much more sinister world of monsters and world-ending plots that comes along with the mantel of Count Crowley.

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The premise of this story is interesting - that a hero would be fighting against supernatural forces bent on destroying the world by hiding his eccentricities as a horror movie host.  Jerri has had some trauma in her recent past, and she is definitely a gritty character.  There are some little details I don't care for - such as she's suddenly good at hand-to-hand fighting with a giant axe because her gymnastics class lessons are coming back to her (I must have missed the combat class during my gymnastic days).  

Dark horse rates this title for 16+.  There are cigarettes, lots of alcohol, sexual situations, implied rape. 

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability Level: Grades 11-12

This review was made possible with an advanced reader copy from the publisher through Edelweiss. This graphic novel will be on sale June 9th, 2020.

​Tags: Rating: 6/10, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Horror, Humor