Domovoi
Trade Paperback
Written by Peter Bergting
Illustrated by Peter Bergting
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 19, 2013
Cover Price: $19.99

Acclaimed artist and storyteller Peter Bergting (known for Strange Girl, Crysis, and Dark Sun) brings European folklore alive and drops it right into the recent past of the 20th Century in the pages of Domovoi from Dark Horse Comics.

His protagonist Jennie, a friendly café waitress in Stockholm, knows that her life is not exactly typical””she lives with a talking cat, her grandmother is a renowned sorceress, and her “uncle” Ivan is really a protective house spirit known as a Domovoi””but she never knew things could be stranger until her grandmother dies and leaves her with an unexpected responsibility.

Entrusted with the protection of a magical relic, Jennie seeks to find the truth about her family’s past while doing her best do dodge the pursuit of two chain-smoking field spirits called Polevik (think dwarf Ukrainian mobsters) who work for a powerful sorcerer that happens to be an old enemy of her grandmother. After an odd exchange puts the Polevik henchmen on Jennie’s side, they decide to help her with her quest for answers.

The waitress and a carload of magical creatures take off on a journey to confront her grandmother’s enemy. A quirky and fast-paced adventure follows, fueled by Jennie’s determination to clear her family name.

This book’s beautiful and surprisingly fresh artwork and cell arrangements take the reader on as many twists and turns as the road trip the characters experience in the story. Though this tale makes some broad jumps in action and calls for the reader to maintain his suspension of disbelief through an odd mix of realistic and fantastic scenarios, the story is remarkably light and entertaining despite its dark theme. Does Domovoi TPB make enough of an impression on me that I’d want to see more in this genre from Peter Bergting? Absolutely.