I picked up the graphic novel Hollow because the author was coming to a local convention and I wanted to do my homework so to speak! But then since this graphic novel is a take on the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow fame, I decided to read the original short story about the Headless Horseman first.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
I am familiar with the outline of the Sleepy Hollow story thanks to Disney, the Tim Burton movie, and the Fox TV show, but this was my first time reading the text that inspired all of those pieces of media. While this short tale shows its age in the writing style it was a nice, quick read. I can see why the meat of the story inspired the works it did, it feels like the bones of the story is a story to be told around the campfire.
I could see things in the story that I see still repeating in stories I read today. Sleepy Hollow is described as “like those little nooks of still water, which border a rapid stream, where we may see the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their mimic harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. Though many years have elapsed since I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its sheltered bosom” That fits in with the vibe in a lot of horror stories today. You have this quaint little town that seems a bit outside of time, and oh yes, there is a supernatural aspect to it—in this case, the Headless Horseman.
The story mentions that Ichabod Crane “was a perfect master of Cotton Mather’s ‘History of New England Witchcraft’”’ and “No tale was too gross or monstrous for his capacious swallow” Reading that I wondered if maybe Ichabod Crane acts as a bit of a template for self-aware horror story protagonists. After all, the kids in Scream and Lost Boys used their knowledge of horror movies/horror stories to try and save their skin. Icabod does try to outwit and outrace and outlive the Headless Horseman but – well – look I think how the story ends is pretty common knowledge, but I will admit there was a bit at the end that I had not heard before, and it made me re-think what had come before. It was a fun short story, some of the writing style was not my thing, but I enjoyed how fleshed out the character of Crane felt even though we only knew him for a handful of pages.
Hollow, Shannon Waters, Branden Boyer-White, Berenice Nelle.
And now we have why I decided to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow! Set in modern-day Sleepy Hollow, the graphic novel follows what happens when Isabel “Izzy” Crane moves to town. She’s there to finish high school because her mother has gotten a job working at one of the local restaurants. Her mother comes across as a food scientist type, and Izzy is very logical and very factual. And she is also incredibly over how obsessed her new town is with the Headless Horseman. Izzy meets Croc Buyn, a well-meaning prankster and school athlete and quickly develops a crush on Vicky Van Tassel of the Van Tassel family, who have become local royalty.
With a Crane and a Van Tassel and a Buyn standing in for a Brom, it seems like all that is missing is the Headless Horseman – a real one that is, since Sleepy Hollow in the lead-up to Halloween has a lot of Headless Horseman merchandise. Well the Horseman does show up, and the trio of Crane, Buyn and Van Tassel learn about a curse on the Van Tassel family.
I freaking loved this graphic novel. It’s funny, it seems like it’s going one way with the plot for a bit and then takes some delightful turns. The characters all have unique skill sets that they use to figure out what is going on, and I loved that. It might be because of the chokehold that Buffy had on me as a teenager but I got really fun early-season Buffy vibes from this at times (this to me, is a very very good thing).
The artwork is super expressive and colorful and the details! Oh, the details! I love all the Headless Horseman iconography worked into the background of the images. I also love how effortlessly diverse the cast is, even the background characters. The romance between Izzy and Vicky was handled beautifully, and Buyn was a damn delight.
I really love this book, I hope that the creative team can put out more stories in this universe.