3 out of 5

Oof, pretty gooshy.

Jon Clark’s Black Caravan entries have been really interesting, but imperfect for various reasons… mostly focused on the art. It’s clear that Clark prefers a rather abstracted style – Jon writes and draws Something Juicy, and it is in the same vein as those other books – but the artists with which the writer has been previously paired are abstracted in a way that doesn’t support the narratives. Perhaps because there’s no action in Juicy, and it’s a “straight forward” horror tale, it works, but I also think Clark’s style is simply better for a comic book – it’s readable; it layers well with the text. And with that improvement, you can get why this abstracted look (a Sinkewicz kind of compositing with early Nick Tapalansky vibes) does work well for Clark’s imaginations: the stories are disturbing, and the art is capable of being unnerving – the two sides appropriately feed one another. That the art doesn’t break the immersion this time is awesome, and I hope Clark continues to write and draw.

The rating here is only average, then, because there’s ultimately not much to this story. It’s a quick and dirty Tales from the Crypt-ish kind of thing, where, once you see where it’s going, you’re just hanging in there until the gory end. I will say that the cover of the book is essentially a spoiler, but that still didn’t ruin it; you’re kind of waiting (nervously) for the turn. The dialogue and narration are both well-written – the narrator has a rather strikingly direct omniscience, and then we switch over to diary entries for part of it, and props to letterer April Brown for visualizing the “voice” for both of these. The plot, central gooshy conceit aside, is maybe disappointingly shallow, as there’s room for some social commentary that’s not really achieved, and also… I don’t know if the way things are set up actually makes much sense, but the atmosphere sells it. It boils down to the mean girl cheerleader spying on the girl who’s stolen her boyfriend… and the “how” of it all is the juicy reveal.

Get grossed out… then keep reading.