MrBallen Presents: The Terror Within: The Graphic Stories by MrBallen with artwork by Andrea Mutti
Many thanks to Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press and NetGalley
for sharing an advanced copy of MrBallen Presents: The Terror Within: The Graphic Stories. MrBallen, a popular true crime podcaster and influencer,
has collected some of his favorite, most haunting unexplained mysteries and
commissioned his creative team to retell these chilling stories in graphic
novel form. Although MrBallen has selected the tales for this anthology, he
acknowledges the team including his sister, Evan Allen, who writes and edits,
along with co-selecting the stories, and Robert Venditti, who revises the
podcast scripts into graphic novel formats, as integral to the creation of this
collection. In addition, Andrea Mutti contributes through his excellent artwork
to capture some of the terrifying and uncanny elements of these stories.
The stories in this collection take place around the world
and through different times in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of
the stories, like the Dyatlov Pass Incident (“Dead Mountain”) and the Magdelena
Solis story (“The Cave”) may be familiar, if not infamous, for some readers.
Other stories like “The Red Ghost”, “Ape Canyon”, and “Her Face” were familiar
to me, but had elements of the uncanny, the unexplained, or happenstance that
created ironic twists that helped intrigue me with its events. I appreciated
how this collection provides a map and locations for each of the events to
indicate where these stories took place. Although not all of the stories were
included in this sample, it provided me with enough to pique my interest in
these tales of the unexplained. Like MrBallen, I’m also a fan of these kinds of
mysteries and unexplained phenomena. MrBallen provides brief commentary at the
beginning and end of each story, and most of the stories are told through his 3rd
person narration that observes and describes what happens to those involved in
the story. He provides some explanations about the events at the end of some of
the stories, but others like “Dead Mountain” and “Ape Canyon” remain somewhat
unresolved and mysterious, leaving readers wanting to know more about what
exactly happened and what the possible explanations are for these events.
Others like “The Cave” and “The Red Ghost” have mostly rational explanations for
the events that occurred or at least have some kind of resolution where justice
was served. Nevertheless, “The Red Ghost” was particularly haunting and strange
as we are never really given an explanation as to why the red ghost initially
appeared or what exactly happened to Elizabeth. It was a strange and perplexing
tale that’s left me wanting to know more. Thankfully, the team working with
MrBallen provides a useful further reading list at the end of the collection to
learn more about each of these events.
This was a fun, quick read that has some intriguing investigative
tales. The simple narration and commentary in each of the panels helps to focus
on the mysterious nature of these events, and pairs well with Mutti’s stark,
evocative illustrations and artwork, creating a creepy and uncanny atmosphere,
great for the Halloween season. I was also excited to learn that there are
other MrBallen graphic novels available that detail other mysteries and unexplained
events, so I’ll look forward to checking those out. Recommended!
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