“McClaren’s cute, funny-faced characters and slapstick action provide an offbeat contrast to the scares, and she adeptly depicts Ashley’s trauma as she processes her new supernatural status. In a clever visual touch, the monster characters shift subtly between human and inhuman in response to their situation, with Ashley growing more gnarly as the story progresses. This mash-up of mumblecore dramedy and gorehound horror slays.”
Description
From cartoonist Meredith McClaren (co-creator of the acclaimed series Black Cloak) comes a punishing and poignant original graphic novel about the monsters that lurk both in the darkness beyond—and within—us all . . . Let it be said that dying is hard. Nineteen-year-old Ashley Moore found this out firsthand. All Ashley wanted was to keep her head down until she could escape the small town where she felt she was stagnating. But after waking up one night covered in blood—and irrevocably dead—Ashley finds her foolproof plan for getting out has gone up in smoke, and that something within her has changed. Without a heartbeat and with a disturbing craving for fresh meat, Ashley finds herself in a world that exists just beneath our own: a world of ghouls and monsters and things that go bump in the night. Drawn into the realm of the unusual, getting advice from ancient vampires, dodging angry pack leaders, and becoming the reluctant big sister to some wayward werewolves, Ashley finds it increasingly difficult to put away the parts of her past—and herself—that she wants to ignore. The truth, it turns out, can’t stay buried forever. In this visceral story about the effects of trauma and anxiety, dying is indeed hard. But getting on with it? That can be worse.
Reviews
"While the mystery of what’s eviscerating critters drives the plot, the buddy-comedy among Ashley, Motley, and Harrison is the heart of the story as Ashley figures out how to be herself in a new context and finds friends who appreciate her for the undead craver of flesh that she is. A strong comedy-horror pick."
“Stunning… Meat Eaters is the cannibal coming-of-age story of your dreams.”
“A punishing and poignant original graphic novel about the monsters that lurk in the darkness.”
