A new horror collaboration between Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night is a family horror story even before they introduce the demons. Set during the 2020 pandemic, the story explores the complexities of family dynamics with a nice helping of demonic energy.
The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night Book 1
Marjorie Liu (Text), Sana Takeda (illustrations), Charlotte Greenbaum (Editor), Andrea Miller (Designer), Marie Oishi (Managing Editor), Erin Vandeveer (Production Manager), Chris Dickey (Lettering)
Abrams ComicArts
11 October 2022
CW for the book: Sexual harassment, dead bodies, blood, gore
She Eats the Night is the first in a series, and while I’m intrigued to see where the story goes, this first volume leaves me whelmed. The book focuses on family: Ipo, the mom, Keon, the dad, and then Milly and Billy, their small business-owning twins. The family lives in Queens, across the street from a house that won’t sell. More than that, it can’t get buyers through the door.
Don’t get me wrong, She Eats the Night is good. Liu and Takeda, of the Eisner Award-winning Monstress, create luscious worlds together. But the book feels like something is missing. Something was off. And, occasionally, that’s the point.
The book alternates between two settings, 1950s Hong Kong and 2020s New York, during the pandemic. But it quickly becomes apparent that the timeline doesn’t quite track. I realized partway through the book that Ipo was an adult in the 1950s, which does not make sense if her kids look like they’re in their late twenties or younger in 2020. Either she or her kids should be much older. Something was amiss, and little hints at the family’s supernatural secrets kept me interested.
This purposeful “offness” was essential for maintaining the suspense for the horror of She Eats the Night, like that house that won’t sell. As buyers walk in the door, entrants are met with a couch full of dolls. They’re of course creepy as hell. Details like subtle facial expressions or the change of arrangement of these dolls’ heads between panels help keep the reader in an uneasy mood. This is something further highlighted by Sana Takeda’s use of black gutters. These black borders remind the reader that this is a horror story, even if parts of it are funny and absurd, like the banter between the twins.
Other off elements though, such as mismatches between what was depicted in the art and what the characters say, are probably not intentional. For example, Milly talks about having powers, but that’s not well communicated in Takeda’s art. Billy and Milly, as revealed in the beginning of the story, can harm the monsters in the house. This gives the feeling that, if they just believe in their strength, they’ll succeed. So, when they destroy some of the bigger ones later, its almost mundane in contrast to panels with Ipo, who reveals her shape-changing ability in a way that clearly demonstrates her otherness.
Furthermore, beyond Ipo, the other family members feel empty. Milly comes off as angry and shouty (with some unprocessed trauma), but ultimately hollow. Billy is given very little space to exist. While the two have amusing character moments, such as a great sibling exchange while masked, they don’t feel fully developed. Meanwhile, their dad is literally a demon—he’s sweet, but with minimal personality on his own. With cardboard nicety, he offers to grill up some of the demon that Ipo snacks on.
I hope this is a function of the first volume, because overall, Ipo drives the story and captures any scene that she’s in. Her posture, portrayal, and vibe are complete Auntie Aspirations for me. She eats what goes bump in the night as a snack and would eat the night itself if it stood in her way. Everyone else though? I don’t really care.
While a solid horror comic, with excellent visual suspense, She Eats The Night feels like it lacks depth. Some parts speak to me, but the hollowness of the characters made it hard to connect with the book. The meta-detachment between the audience and the characters may be the point. As a child of immigrants, the older I get, the more I realize how much I can’t understand about my parents’ lives. Like Milly and Billy, who fundamentally misunderstand their parents, I feel separated from the work.
Regardless, if what you’re looking for is a visually dynamic and lush horror comic, She Eats the Night has you covered. However, if you want a horror story that explores a humanized journey toward living through the intergenerational trauma of the immigrant experience, this first volume may not satisfy you. Is that what I wanted when I started it? No. But it’s something I’d love to see developed by the series. And I hope to see more of that in the next volume.