Long ago, in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland, Mank the Potter created a “zig”: a boy made from clay with a gad nail for a heart. Throughout the five connected stories in Anthony Spaeth’s graphic novel THE STRANGE TWINS OF BEN MORE, Mank and Gad are drawn into various adventures.

In “Howl of the Lambergoon,” Gad the Zig is sent out with his pony Lull to forage for food and encounters the fierce lambergoon, who chases them to the door of a crafty old wizard. In “The Gad Nail,” Gad’s creation at the gentle hands of Mank the Potter is detailed. Sent out to bring back dinner for his maker, Gad disobeys instructions and enters a forbidden forest, where he’s captured by the tiny, fairy-like fenodrees and condemned by their fierce queen—with disastrous consequences.

“The Strange Bride” begins with Mank discovering two strange conjoined children left on his doorstep. After he separates them, they mature unnaturally fast and display strange powers. A lord then commissions Mank to craft plates and cups for his daughter Caillix’s wedding; but when the potter arrives with Gad and the children in tow, he finds Caillix looks just like the children. Later, a wizard arrives at Mank’s home to claim one of the children to train for the next nine years in “Mister Fingal,” and a rescue is mounted in “The Crone of Callanish.”

Each story ends with a feint towards the modern day, where the reader is informed that the ancient remnants of these stories still persist. They are illustrated by different artists (Marta Stawska, Oly R., and Nicolas Guido Lavalle), who all do excellent work. The change in style is initially disruptive when collected together like this, but it eventually provides some welcome variation.

Although the tone is pitched towards younger readers—with a lilting, sing-song rhyme scheme and broad stories of love, magic, and adventure—the length and breadth of the stories will also satisfy older readers. The result is a work that adults can read to children with equal enjoyment on both sides.

The rhyme schemes and line scans are pretty loose, but this indicates a focus on fun, enjoyable language (rather than linguistic purity)—which serves the stories well. One wishes they were a bit more connected, though: the first two installments aren’t very tightly bound to the last three; and Gad the Zig has almost no role in the final stories, which is a shame. However, that doesn’t take away from the individual enjoyment of each part. The setting and myths explored are fun enough to inspire readers of all ages to dig into Scottish folklore a bit more.

Unique and lushly illustrated, Anthony Spaeth’s graphic novel THE STRANGE TWINS OF BEN MORE draws on Scottish myths and will appeal to readers of all ages.

~Jeff Somers for IndieReader