Unlike your usual book, the graphic novel Beautiful Darkness opens with a scene of our main character, Aurora, a cute girl who could be considered the princess of the story as she is about to go on a date with Prince Hector. This scene is beautifully illustrated without borders and a white background. Making it feel very dreamlike.
Until their dream-like place starts melting with red goo, forcing them to leave. As everyone is leaving, the camera expands out to show the body of a dead girl where the tiny people are living. And finally the title page.
Beautiful Darkness (Jolies Ténèbres; French title), published in 2009. Written by Marie Pommepuy and Fabien Vehlmann and illustrated by Marie Pommepuy and Sebastien Cosset, also known as Kerascoët; Not to be confused with the novel of the same name, ‘Beautiful Darkness’ by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
After this introduction, the story follows Aurora trying to survive with her subjects in an unnamed forest. Due to her subjects being ignorant of the dangers of the forest, some die in comedic ways. The story brings up a lot of questions about when someone is too good to realize the reality of a situation and what it means to survive.
This story is beautifully illustrated with bright watercolors. Sadly the PDFs that can be found online don’t do it justice. The character designs are drawn in a very simplistic way making them feel like they belong in a children’s book. With some exceptions such as the animals, the dead girl, and a character that can’t be mentioned due to spoilers. And in no way does this style of decision make it feel out of place. On the contrary, it brings more attention to the themes of the story.
The story also contains depictions of death and a corpse as mentioned. So viewer discretion is advised. I recommend this story if you are interested in stories with cute styles and dark plots.
Videos I recommend if you want a deeper look into the story. (They contain spoilers but are an awesome watch after you are done with the story)
