The Wrenchies Draws a Mad, Mad World

Alice doesn’t live here anymore. It’s a rabbit hole tunnel that plunges Sherwood and Orson into an alternate, dystopian world chock full of evil shadows, magic spheres, and kid gangs, but it’s the dose of existentialism in a dense and infinitely-layered plot that propels.

The Wrenchies

by Farel Dalrymple

First Second; 304 pp.; $19.99

Where Lewis Carroll’s wonderland is nonsensical fantasy, with a side of evil queen and thematic hints, Farel Dalrymple’s latest (released July 2014) is a positively twisted amalgamation of horror and Neverland.

These lost kids don't wanna grow up (yes, girls play hardball here, too) because the shadowmen are dead set on stealing the souls of children - using wormy tentacle fingers - the second they come of age. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world constructed by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Dalrymple (Pop Gun War). Time hops take the reader from a clusterfuck of violence, where demented creatures ravage in proximity to situationally vicious small humans, to a reality more closely resembling the one the reader knows - as frightening as that may be - and back. Marked by Zs on foreheads and Ws on shoulders, Seussian Sneeches these are not. When one boy is infected by the darkside, the duo splits, brutal chaos ensues, and the lines blur to form a horrifying scenario. Compounding the layers, the kids are perplexed by a namesake comic book - The Wrenchies - introduced early in the story. When Hollis, a young hopeful superhero, finds an amulet that beams him to the post-apocalyptic hellhole, the plot scatters shot in many directions.

In fact, it’s likely that every reader of this beast will draw a different conclusion because with multiple epilogues and a Game of Thrones-level cast, The Wrenchies is far from a beach book. With just one read, it’s hard to determine whether Dalrymple intended his intense plot scramble to lead to a deeper, universal understanding or if it’s just downright confusing. Either way, graphic novel aficionados will likely be split vehemently into opposing camps, and the rest of us are just along for a mind-bending, head-scratching ride. Hallucinogenic or surreal or whispers of reality? Hard to say.

Building from sparse and stunning drawings to multiple panels (some monochromatic, some the whole ROYGBIV) bursting at the seams with dialogue, the artwork is, as expected, remarkable. Dalrymple can draw. By the novel’s halfway point, the visuals are poised to haunt even the genre’s devotees. Maybe it’s something about the spewing creatures and grotesque undead juxtaposed to the disheveled red-faced child warriors that pepper most every panel. Or maybe it’s the Lynchian macabre and deviant looking-glass view of a world we’ll all hope never exists. Wrenchies isn’t for kids, but graphic novel-loving teens and adults will find the gruesome story riveting and worth a dedicated read. Or two.

Farel Dalrymple will be signing at Austin Books & Comics (5002 N Lamar Blvd., 512/454-4197) on Monday, Nov. 10, 4-7pm.