MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious

by | Dec 4, 2024

Fans of Strange Tales may be familiar with Youtube personality MrBallen (real name John B. Allen). A former Navy SEAL, MrBallen doesn’t tell his stories of people’s actual accounts with the supernatural and fantastical on a set lit with black candles or a coffin sitting in the background. Instead, he wears a signature baseball cap and flannel shirt while sitting before a microphone. He doesn’t need Gothic ambience to pull his fans in; the stories themselves are enough. He, along with contributor Robert Venditti, seems to take that approach with his book MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories, illustrated by Andrea Mutti.

The nine stories within this book are from around the world. Many of them are typically spooky stories that one would tell around a campfire; hence, the book’s front cover has MrBallen sitting behind a campfire surrounded by skulls (the closest he comes to Gothic trappings) while he locks eyes with the reader as he prepares to tell these stories. His first story involves a stretch of Canada’s Northwest Territories that has made many people disappear over centuries, a story which sets the tone for the rest of the book, while other tales include a man who disappears in an abandoned Spanish village where a witch met her end, a woman who has a very strange and visceral dream while camping, a man encountering a persistent tiger, and an actual giant encountered in the mountains of Khanadar, Afghanistan.

The stories MrBallen and Venditti share are stories that he has researched, stories he’s heard from others (the story of the giant is one he’d heard from a fellow soldier), or ones he’s experienced himself. The stories are presented as nonfiction but MrBallen doesn’t spend time delving into the history of these encounters or trying to prove or disprove their veracity; he’s simply there to tell a story and entertain his audience. The way these stories are presented also bank on another part of MrBallen’s appeal: his approachability. His stories aren’t told with the dry delivery of a folklore scholar, but of someone sharing this story with a friend in a not-too-crowded local bar.

Mutti’s art style also shows a distinct lack of ostentatious ambiance, which benefits the book. Mutti forgoes detailed images of many of these terrors, particularly the supernatural ones, and shows just enough to let the reader’s unsettled mind fill in the blanks. For settings, he only places the bare minimum within a scene to create the proper atmosphere, whether that be fog winding through a dark forest, or the terrified eyes of the people experiencing these stories. Even Mutti’s watercolor style artwork, with pale colors and realistic detail for the non-supernatural elements, complements rather than distracts from the stories’ elements.

In the public library nonfiction shelves lurk books about real-life hauntings and stories meant to raise hackles on unsuspecting adult patrons. The patrons who enjoy those books will enjoy MrBallen’s tales; perhaps they are even fans of his Youtube show. If they are not fans, they might discover MrBallen through reading the solidly spooky tales he has collected.

MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious The Graphic Tales
By John B. Allen
Art by Andrea Mutti
Ten Speed Press, 2024
ISBN: 9781984863430

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)

Invisible Wounds

by | Sep 13, 2024

“You do what you have to do to survive, and then you have your entire lifetime to make sense of it all,” (153). So states Squad Marksman Matt Klein in Invisible Wounds, Jess Ruliffson’s illustrated collection of interviews with veterans across the United States. Ruliffson spoke to twelve veterans about their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The storytellers range in age, race, gender and sexuality. The group includes three women, one a lesbian, and an Asian transgender man, as well as a Vietnamese American and a Black man. The narrators describe brotherhood and belonging, hazing, harassment, injuries, homecoming, violence and empathy.

I love to see how an artist visually interprets someone else’s memories and emotions. This works well in Amtracker Nathan Galster’s story. Contrasting the desert scenery of his deployment in Iraq, Galster reflects on how content he would be, to be still and at peace. Ruliffson depicts him reposing on a surfboard, watching the waves with a friend. Rifleman Josiah White broods with his hands in his pockets, eyes downcast, his home in the background. “I have so much because I got blown up. I wouldn’t have this house. I wouldn’t have a college degree,” (27). A yellowish tan color washes over the house while Josiah stands in a blue foreground. The way the two different tones meet in the bunting hanging across the panel, in Josiah’s clothes, seems like a representation of him being split between two things, perhaps belonging to both or neither. He finishes the thought, “If I could go back, I would do the right thing. You can’t go back,” (27). The overall color palette reminds me of a rainy fall day, muted tones paired with brighter reds and oranges. Colorwork can be restful for the senses. I found this colorwork to be appropriately agitating.

The artwork is not particularly graphic, but due to the theme, this book is best offered to older teens and adults. Not being a veteran myself, I can’t speak to how veterans would receive this work, but I expect they would relate to it as it would stir up thoughts and memories. Invisible Wounds is not a historical account of the Iraq War, and those who are curious may prefer supplementary resources or other books entirely for more facts, background information, and broader perspectives presented with a larger scope. However, for personal recollections that someone could be telling you from across a kitchen table with candidness and vulnerability, this is a thoughtful book with great artwork.

Invisible Wounds Graphic Journalism
By Jess Ruliffson
Fantagraphics, 2022
ISBN: 9781683961901

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)