Black Cherry

I am a big fan of Doug Tennapel's work. I own damn near everything he has done to date. As an employee of a world famous comic shop in new york city I pushed his work on anyone and everyone who would listen. I must have hand sold each copy of Tommysaurus Rex we got in. So with this out in the open, let me get to my dissapointment with his latest graphic novel, Black Cherry.I was unaware of Mr. Tennapel's Christian leanings untill...well probably Earthboy Jacobus. EJ is easily his most overtly christian work. Wholesome stories of Mr. Tennapel's style do not need to be labled "christian," they were just good. (i have the same point of view with christian music...which i listen to alot of- Zao, underoath, the chariot, etc). I have no inherent bias against christians in any way, shape, or form. That said, Black Cherry is both Mr. Tennapel's most mature work and his most religious. There is a introduction by the author explaining to his christian readership that his characters in this book do bad things (and they do, alot.) because thats what real people do, and he wants his characters to ring true.Eddie is a typical, down on his luck, low level mafioso. The stripper love of his life up and dissapeared and he owes his boss money and he lives a life that is an ongoing crisis of faith. Then there is an alien, and demons, and a priest. Story-wise it's a roller coaster...and like a lot of Mr. Tennapel's work, spends 2/3 on set up and the last 1/3 rushes like a frieght train. I am not saying this is bad at all...the slow build into the frantically paced conclusion works really well. The art is fantastic! Mr. Tennapel's brush style is always kinetic and gorgeous to take in. The character of mary is especially well illustrated...in a book of violence and craziness, she has the fully rendered eyes of a standard disney princess in all frames amid wild brushstrokes.The first point where i realized this book had a huge problem occurs about half way through (sorry the pages are not numbered...which is a super pet peeve of mine anyway) Eddie utters the following line, "You are dead, for you are GAY." Now, prior to this point in the book there were a couple of other references to homosexuality, mostly in a humorous way. The best of which being, in reference to eddie's zippo, "the homosexualist thing since homosexuality came to homosexualtown." But now, this whole proclamation of "you are dead, for you are gay" sort of reeks of a statement. And knowing Mr. Tennapel's religious leanings...well...what can i say? i feel that he's using his work to push the common christian misconception that homosexuality is a sin and evil, and he's elevating it to a point where he believes that homosexuals should be killed for no reason other than their "preference." To further his point...whenever the horde of demons shows up and surrounds eddie...one of them always suggests that they "put a dick in his butt." Because you know...all gays are demons and they and their sex acts could only come from hell.I had waited for this book for a long time...I was sooo looking forward to Doug Tennapel finally doing a "mature readers" book. I could not wait to see his style, which i have loved for so long, finally applied to a gritty story for adults. I was very sad to find out that it is just a religious tract with some pretty art. I am not ready ro write off Mr. Tennapel just yet...he has another book or two set to come out in the next year or so...but no longer is his work something i will buy sight unseen. Now i will carefully check it out and see if his bigotry is so ham-fisted as to offend me. Trust me...to offend me is quite the feat.-matt

He has done it again. Doug TenNapel has taken an assortment of elements/genres--gangster, romance, sci-fi, horror, action, comedy, spiritual warfare--and made it all work together. The description on the cover says, "A lurid tale of sex, violence, and the supernatural." Yup. And funny as heck. They forgot that part. And moving. Forgot that, too. And full of mercy for the outcast, the prodigal, the misfit, and the...alien. Not to mention squirrels.I can't offer much by way of summary without giving away some fun plot points and twists. I know you'd much rather learn those on your own the old-fashioned way (by reading it), so here it is: Bad guy Eddie Paretti, who's fallen in love with a stripper named Black Cherry, finds that 1. his girl is gone from the strip place and 2. he's made a deal to steal a body from his own mob boss in order to get money to pay off his debts and 3. that body is not what he expects.Stealing that body is about to get Eddie in a big, big fix, and it's going to save him, too, in all sorts of ways.The cast includes some staples of sci-fi/crime fiction/spiritual warfare/horror: demons, angels, bad guys, good guys, a priest, an alien, the hot chick, the wise-cracking protagonist, the cool pal, and car chases.But TenNapel has a way of taking traditional elements and doing something wacky, funny, moving, and new with them, and always with some spiritual insights. What he does with one particular, er, sacrament is to die for.I love D.G. and I couldn't put down BLACK CHERRY.This gets a big thumbs up for graphicky novel goodness. Or is that badness?And yeah, if you're easily offended by cussing and sexual talk, then this is not the work for you. But, as TenNapel says in his preface, "Criminals don't talk like they are trying to keep from offending soccer moms."One quibble: The ending needed a little more space. At least another couple of pages to fill out some blanks. But, really, that's all I found wanting.Hurry up with the next one, Doug. Your graphic novels are each a delicious, demented delight.Mir

I had bought this book for a friend, but I couldn't let it go without reading it myself. I had only heard TenNapel's name in relation to "Earthworm Jim", so I wasn't expecting too much. Well, to be honest, I didn't know WHAT to expect.Well, color me surprised. This book was not only well-crafted, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. TenNapel's work seems to be a matter of jumping on an idea and just writing and drawing as it goes, and descends into every-deeper recesses of insanity. The book starts with a fairly 'normal' premise: Mafia hatchet man doing a job for his family. It goes from there into a story of alien Catholic priests being pursued by devils who want his powers for themselves, and whatever other craziness TenNapel can throw in.I found myself laughing at every turn. From 'Get a dick in his butt!' to to the main character crashing a UFO into a building...it was all so over-the-top, there was no way you COULDN'T laugh at it.I'd highly recommend the book. If you don't get at least a guffaw, a chuckle, or a belly laugh out of it, there's something seriously wrong with you.KAB

Wonderful story

Douglas Richard "Doug" TenNapel est un auteur et dessinateur étatsunien de comic books, de jeux videéo, de dessins animés etc. Né à Norwalk (Californie), ce "quinqua" - il l'est devenu au début de l'été 2016 - reste peu connu en France, pays où il n'a vu que trois de ses oeuvres publiées, les plutôt recommandés : ' Ghostopolis ' (2012, pour l'édition française), ' Tritons, Tome 1 ' (2016) et ' Tome 2 ' (2016) (1). Pourtant, TenNapel commence à avoir une bibliographie conséquente, et cet ouvrage se situe entre les déjà commentés par mes soins ' Iron West ' (2006) et ' Flink ' (2007).Derrière une illustration de couverture qui évoque les couvertures de périodiques de BD d'horreur de la firme EC Comics du début des Fifties, se trouve une histoire typiquement dans la manière de TenNapel en termes de gestion de la montée d'adrénaline, mais très inusuelle par rapport aux autres trade paperbacks de cet auteur. Il s'agit d'un grand brun du nom d'Eddie Paretti, un porte-flingues de la mafia sis en Californie, qui tombe amoureux d'une pole-dancer du nom de Black Cherry. Mais le temps qu'il se décide à se déclarer, la jeune fille disparaît. Mais ce n'est là-dessus que se lance le fond de l'intrigue : pour de l'argent, Eddie accepte la mission qui consiste à voler un body-bag rempli à son propre patron. Dans ce body-bag, Eddie découvre bien vite qu'il y a bien un corps mais que ce dernier n'est ni celui d'un mort, ni d'ailleurs celui d'un être humain ! Bien évidemment, sa mauvaise action va faire qu'Eddie va se faire courir après, mais un des poursuivants est d'autant plus inattendu qu'il s'agit du Père McHugh, qui constitue pour Eddie un vrai père... Mais l'occupant du body-bag est également convoité par des démons car cet être mystérieux a des pouvoirs surnaturels, tels que celui qui consiste à donner la vie à des objets inanimés... Il va tenir à Eddie et à ses rares soutiens de parvenir (ou pas) à sauver le monde tel que nous le connaissons.L'ensemble du livre est dessiné en noir et blanc (l'excellente coloriste Katherine Garner n'est pas encore devenue une collaboratrice habituelle de TenNapel), avec ce style graphique aux traits épais et faussement grossiers qui fait la marque de TenNapel et avec lequel il restitue en particulier plusieurs poursuites haletantes ! ***3/4(1) Mes commentaires sur les versions originales se trouvent respectivement  ici , ici  et  là . GhostopolisTritons, Tome 1Tome 2Iron WestFlinkiciicilà

Black Cherry is a stripper that a gangster is in love with. But she goes missing. The gangster is asked to retrieve a body from his boss and it turns out to be an alien wanted by demons because of its immense power.It's Doug Tennapel, so what you get is a strong cartoon style inked with a heavy brush, and a story that deals with religious themes with good humour.I'm not religious but I didn't feel that Tennapel was trying to convert me. Religion is a part of the story not part of a diatribe and so it feels very natural. It's a love story, it's science fiction, it's horror.As usual with Tennapel, it's great.