Where Black Stars Rise

Starred review from August 29, 2022
In this inventive horror comic, Amal Robardin is a therapist in training whose first client, a schizophrenic New York City theatre scene blogger named Yasmin, has been experiencing increasingly intense nighttime visions of a figure looming in the dark beside her bed. Grappling with her own inexperience as a therapist and the expectations of her faraway yet overbearing family, Amal struggles to help Yasmin, who disappears after becoming increasingly absorbed in the mythology of Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow, a foundational collection of cosmic horror. Determined to find and rescue Yasmin, Amal gets trapped along with Yasmin in Carcosa, an impossible, mind-melting dimension. To survive and escape, she must confront both her limitations as a therapist and her most elemental fears of failure and ego-death. Together, Shammas and Enger construct an incredible marriage of blisteringly vulnerable subject matter and art that expertly captures the enormous emotions at the heart of the story. Enger’s visual style melds jagged punk zine sensibilities with the lush flourishes of Mike Mignola to create a distinct and immersive aesthetic. Of particular note are the inking and coloring, which are used to devastating effect throughout the narrative. Fans of confessional surrealism owe it to themselves to check this out.

October 1, 2022

Amal, a newly minted therapist, is very affected by her patient Yasmin's story. Amal is also navigating her new life in America while trying to stay anchored to her family back in Lebanon. When Yasmin disappears, Amal's search for her patient leads to an alternative theater company, the backstage of which is a portal into a strange subworld, one that is eerily similar to that portrayed in the cosmic horror classic The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers. While familiarity with that story could enhance the reading experience, it is not necessary as this book stands firmly and confidently on its own two, weird fiction, feet. Told in a visceral visual style with liberal uses of black, yellow, and sharp angles that heighten the unease of the story line on every page. VERDICT This is an impressive graphic novel from Shammas (Squire) and Enger (Regression) that features life in the diaspora, an inclusive retelling, and a strong, cosmic horror tale. A great option for fans of T. Kingfisher's modern updates of horror classics and the recent anthology Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2022
Amal is a therapist-in-training whose first patient is Yasmin, a young schizophrenic woman. As an Iranian American, Yasmin chooses Amal, a Lebanese immigrant, to be her therapist because they may share some cultural similarities. Yasmin is having terrible night terrors that are increasing in intensity, and she knows it's serious, but she's having a hard time convincing Amal of that. When Yasmin disappears, Amal goes to the theater where Yasmin volunteers and enters a new dimension--Carcosa--where she meets the King in Yellow. This story is heavily wedded to Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow. Knowledge of the mythos is most helpful to understanding the story's plot, which goes from a therapist/patient relationship to an alternative realm at the end. The illustrations contain many sharp angles and unusual perspectives. The gold and yellow colors stand out against the blue, neon green, and pink. Though, while the dark color choices in some panels evoke fear, the use of dark text on a dark background made those panels difficult to read in digital format. Fans of cosmic horror may enjoy this one.

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