Categories: reviews
Chrysanthemum Under the Waves was reviewed on Publishers Weekly:
Umber (Sound of Snow Falling) presents nine unsettling graphic shorts that delve into darkness, grief, and the author’s fascination with James Harris, a demonic figure from a 17th-century ballad. The collection eschews a standard comics-style narrative in favor of evoking an eerie and contemplative vibe, through ephemeral black and gray story fragments and portraits.
Read the full review by clicking here.
CUTW got two more reviews on Goodreads - by Rick Ray and Rob Kirby. Rick Ray included my book on his Best Comics of 2024 shelf! He says in part:
Usually collections will have their ups and downs, but I found the transition from one piece to the next here to be both seamless and engaging. Challenging though some of the stories may be, either due to their amorphous storytelling quality or just the base interpretation of the literary references, Chrysanthemum Under The Waves is truly a quality production from start to finish. Maggie Umber challenged herself to deliver literary quality to personal experiences, and this collection shows the fruits of that anguish in a truly special way.
Rob Kirby (who was the editor of The Shirley Jackson Project where The Tooth first appeared) says:
Her painterly panels are evocative, elliptical, meditative—GORGEOUS. I'd hang any of these pages up on my wall, framed and everything. You can actually read the book rather quickly but if you're like me, you'll find yourself coming back to it again and again, just to stare at individual pages, try to suss out their secrets.
Read all of the Goodreads reviews by clicking here.
🖤 Maggie