Looking for something new to celebrate spooky season? Perhaps something existential and gorgeous? Then look no further, for Daisy by Colin Lorimer, Joana Lafuente, Jim Campbell, and Anita Vu has everything one needs.
Inspired by the biblical texts, Daisy follows Lindsay Taylor, whose son, Conor, went missing five years ago. After receiving a mysterious phone call, where the caller says Conor wants to send a message to Lindsay, she tracks the phone number to a small town called Brimount.
The town’s sheriff takes her to the home of the phone number, which belongs to Mark Phillips, the local hardware store owner. Mark is absent, but his daughter, Daisy, an unusual eight-foot-tall teenager, is home leading her bible class.
Daisy warns Lindsay she shouldn’t have come to the town, but before she can act, the sheriff shoots her in the chest. Little does this curious mother know, she’s about to get wrapped into a series of horrors involving a cult of fallen angels, descendants of giants, and God himself.
Daisy is a dense and heady story. Lorimer beautifully weaves intense cosmic horror with a grounded story of personal enlightenment. Themes such as the ambivalence and cruelty of godly beings and what makes something true blanket the entire narrative.
At the same time, the book explores more intimate human experiences. Lindsay and Daisy both are told they have destinies to fulfill and that there is a singular truth, but they are defiant regardless, seeking to write their own stories. They both come to the realization that what they ultimately sought could never be obtained in the first place. At least, not in the way they originally imagined.
It is this combination of terrors, universal and personal, that makes Daisy emotionally complex and highly nuanced. The reader will be questioning their place in the cosmos while also feeling sorrow for the main characters.
This story is so impactful because of Lorimer’s unique style of drawing. Like the narrative, the panels are thick in detail and cause the audience to slowly digest every bit of drama and grotesque horror.
Daisy places a ton of emphasis on the character’s eyes and faces, dragging out these moments by inching closer and closer to them as they are speaking. Lorimer favors tall panels that are tightly packed together, leaving the reader no choice but to slow down and appreciate the emotion of each scene.
At the same time, he is not afraid to get into the readers with large two-panel spreads, some requiring the reader to turn the book, that throws disgustingly marred bodies and rotting animals onto the page.
Lafuente and Vu’s coloring is a large part of why the highpoints of Daisy are rock solid. They mainly stick to hues of primary colors, favoring yellow for most of the book. It truly gives every page a sickly, eerie feeling.
This jaundice allows every splash of blood and gore to pop and be shocking. One certain reveal is especially jarring because the team switches to blue lighting. The coloring conditions the reader excellently so that their big contrasts cannot be ignored.
Jim Campbell displays why he has been nominated for nearly every comics award in lettering. One drawback of this book is that it has an extreme amount of dialogue at times, but Campbell manages to never let this break the methodical pacing of the story or cover the gorgeous art.
Particularly noteworthy is his sparing use of sound effects. They are rarely called for in this story; the team lets the art do the talking most of the time. The few times they are utilized, such as gunshots or slashes of a sword, they demand to be noticed but still feel like a part of the art. Daisy isn’t going to be for everyone, but a reader with a particular itch for something with a plump plot that is guaranteed to be disconcerting would find a home in this book.
