Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
How spooky is the cover art for this graphic novel version of ‘Wait Till Helen Comes’? I’ll have to admit, it made expect some serious creepy stuff from the story, but most of it turned out to be disappointing family drama. A patchwork family of five move in to a new place in the outskirts, with no neighbors for at least a mile, and the youngest kid starts to creep the oldest one out by claiming she’s made a ghostly friend at the graveyard close to their new home.
Siblings Molly and Michael are forced to look out for their little stepsister Heather when their mother remarries. And even though Molly is the eldest child, it turns out she is also the most easily scared. So when Heather starts spending more and more time talking to herself in the nearby graveyard, Molly is convinced she is speaking to a suspicious spirit called Helen, whereas the practical Michael is sure no such thing exists. To make things worse, a manipulative Heather keeps accusing the siblings of mistreating her, which adds to the tension and negative atmosphere in their remote new house.
While I haven’t read the original gothic novel by Mary Downing Hahn, the ‘gothic’ element is largely limited to living by a graveyard and tall talks about a ghost. Maybe the novel is more nuanced in exploring the fraught dynamics in the family, but this illustrated version of ‘Wait Till Helen Comes’ is packed with unlikable characters. Both parents are frustratingly bad in the way they deal with the problems between the children, and the 12-year-old Molly often behaves like a paranoid superstitious old lady on the verge of losing her sanity.
Molly’s mother Jean keeps advising the kids to be kinder to Heather, rarely taking their side, and step-dad Dave obviously coddles his bratty daughter. The parents simply expect the older kids to take care of Heather, while secluding themselves in their work-spaces for most of the day. I wish there had been some healthy interactions between the two generations, but there barely any. Molly & Michael are almost always made to feel guilty for making things tough for Molly, while Heather has dad Dave wrapped around her fingers.
Since this is a graphic novel adaptation of ‘Wait Till Helen Comes’, let’s talk about the artwork. The visuals are lively, with colors that pop, yet the storytelling feels weighed down by words. Every panel is either crammed with dialogue or narration, leaving little room for the art to breathe. Ironically, the artwork on the cover is the spookiest part of this book.
Now, as far as Helen the ghost is concerned, the book does provide an interesting backstory to the malevolent spirit, which siblings Molly and Dave uncover through some amateur detective work. However, Helen’s role is so minimal that she comes across more like a little girl throwing a tantrum than a figure meant to send chills down a reader’s spine, at least not an adult’s. With its heavy-handed themes of family strife, guilt, and death, this isn’t a story I’d ever hand to a child.
My expectation were probably too high from this horror story, and I’m glad I got myself the eBook instead of the more expensive paperback.
Rating: 2.5 on 5.
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