As summer creeps ever closer, now is the perfect time to pick up Clara & the Devil Vol. 1. Just as the coming heat invites us to shed our excess layers, writer Olivie Blake and artist Little Chmura tease us with a perfectly mediocre life on the precipice of a great awakening. Originally published serially on Webtoon, Vol. 1 collects the initial four episodes as a paperback graphic novel from 23rd St. Books, a Macmillan Publishers imprint. These installments are clearly meant to lay the groundwork for a much larger yarn, but the text is no mere prologue. It’s more mysterious and satisfying than that.
Sitting in a liminal space is key to appreciating Clara & the Devil. Set in a seaside suburban sprawl, Clara’s humdrum existence feels like it could be anywhere along the United States’ coastline; north or south, east or west, it doesn’t really matter. The majority of the color palette spans muted blues and grays, creating an air that our lead character has been sleepwalking through life. At each avenue, from romance to employment to education, Clara has been at peace with making the most sensible choice available to her. You get the feeling that almost no one ever asks Clara if she’s satisfied. Then again, no one asks the sand if it’s satisfied to be washed over by the waves, and there’s a distinct energy that Clara’s whole existence would’ve been swept away without a trace, if not for some timely infernal intervention.
It’s a tale as old as time: Girl meets Devil, Girl rebuffs Devil and introduces him to her Bisexual Boy Best Friend. Devil and Boy start hooking up, Boy starts wasting away. Devil keeps bothering Girl at work, Girl is deeply concerned for Boy but also quite jealous of what Boy and Devil have. Girl confronts Devil and is nearly consumed by her own fantasies. We’ve all seen it a thousand times right? Jokes aside, Blake’s plotting in Clara & the Devil is fairly straightforward. This doesn’t strike me as a weakness though, because the feelings that lie under the surface are deliciously layered. Clara narrates in a way that feels like we’re reading her journal, contemplating what has transpired matter-of-factly, even as the emotional dynamics at play twist into a tangled web.
The space between the life Clara has defined for herself and the new feelings that the Devil’s presence inspires is the central tension of the novel. Chmura contrasts dreamy watercolors with electric blue, fiery orange, and inky black. This juxtaposition pulses throughout the book, building a hum of energy that needs a release. Not only do we read Clara’s narration as she tries to minimize these feelings, but we see the increasing flow of dark desire leaking out of the pages of her journal. No one is fooled by her false sense of calm, save for her faceless boyfriend Andrew. Ever the gentleman, the Devil only has to wait until Clara cannot ignore her passions anymore.
23rd St.
Clara isn’t the only one struggling in light of the Devil’s arrival. Jonah, her aforementioned best friend, is seen throughout the novel withering away during his dalliance with the Devil. Jonah’s presence already disrupts Clara’s calm, constricting life. He’s one of the few people of color around, breaking the literal monotony of the nondescript beach town. He’s also bi, though it’s implied that he only sleeps with women in an attempt to lessen the perception of him as both a racial and sexual Other. To top it off, Jonah and Clara have the most emotionally intimate relationship between any of the humans presented, which has been a point of discussion for Clara and Andrew more than once. Something was going to give for someone in Jonah’s position eventually, so I can’t really blame him for folding so quickly to someone looking like a young Matt Bomer calling himself the Devil.
Even though Clara introduced Jonah to the Devil, the acquaintance between the two becomes unbearable for her over the summer that the Devil spends in town. Of course, seeing someone she cares for so deeply turn into a husk worries Clara. At the same time, she’s deeply envious; of Jonah? Of the Devil? Of them both at once? It’s unclear, as that would require Clara to admit her desire to stray from the small life that she once settled for. Eventually, things do come to a head for Clara and Nick (the Devil), just in time for the aptly titled chapter, “The Climax.” Be it power, sex, or magic, Clara wants whatever the Devil will give her. I for one can’t wait to see what she will do with it.
Before I finish up, I do want to spotlight Chmura’s art a little more. On top of everything I’ve already said, the blend of inks and watercolors strengthens the bond between the novel’s form and content. The art skill is clearly higher here, but this stylistic approach is evocative of other women I knew in college and how they embellished their journals. It goes hand in hand with the narration to further the idea that the audience has been given a copy of Clara’s personal diary. Another artistic choice I appreciated was the choice to let Clara look dull for the majority of the novel. She’s pale and gaunt, with bulging, watery eyes that remind me of Gollum. This is not the Clara we are promised in the cover, and that dissonance makes her transformative arrival in “the Climax” all the sweeter.
It’s no secret that Clara & the Devil Vol. 1 is sexy. But more than that, the graphic novel is largely an exercise in foreplay: a liminal space that is too salacious to extend beyond closed doors but not yet reaching the writhing vulgarity of the act itself. It’s a seductive introduction, one where the prey’s own passion drives them after the Devil himself. It’s a gorgeous book that feels perfectly suited for poolside pleasure or alone time in bed. The hypnotic hum of the story is alluring, leaving the reader hungry for a physical edition of Blake and Chmura’s next installment.
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