The Progressive
Review of Blood Song: A Silent Ballad
by Elizabeth DiNovella
January 2003Blood Song (Harcourt), Eric Drooker's latest graphic novel, takes us on a journey from an island paradise to a modern metropolis. Using only images, he spins a beautiful fairy tale reminding us of our shared humanity.
A young woman's odyssey begins when she flees her edenic home after a military invasion. She ends up in exile in a foreign city, where again she finds brutality but also a new love.
In a visually stunning way, Drooker confines his color palette almost entirely to black and blue; the use of watercolor on scratchboard engravings give the novel a soft light. Dashes of brilliant color--the red of blood, the yellow of a song--add depth to the novel. The effect is a beautifully surreal, timeless landscape. Some of the details, though, place us in contemporary society: video cameras survey the street corner while corporate logos clutter the city.