An Account of the Lengthy Existence and Numerous Experiences of Ambrose Backhouse, Vampire, with Special Attention to Those Years in Which He Walked Upon This Earth Tho Dead (2022) is a lovely graphic novel by Tim Denee and published by Tim Hutchings. It is essentially a log of a playthrough of Thousand Year Old Vampire. Denee posted the initial installments on Twitter as he went, which is where I initially saw them. Around that time, I was spectating a number of TYOV playthrough logs on social media and this was by far the most engaging, because pictures. I guess Hutchings thought so too!

Ambrose it turned to undeath by the Rek, an ancient vampire bound to the sea floor by heavy chains (love this, its so wonderfully evocative). The pair foster a deadly enmity for each other over the centuries, in and out of which weave the people of Ambrose’s daily life, their schemes and his miseries. As a narrative, it jutters, which is the nature of the game, but I find this to be compelling (just as I do in the game) because real life rarely has threads and conclusions that satisfy the framework of good narrative. This feels weirdly real, and derives a power from that feeling. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I really enjoy how the book resolves, like most lives, with much unfinished.

Denee’s approach to the art for this is perfect, very flat, highly graphical, almost as though pasted together with cut-out colored paper. It has a sense of assemblage that echoes the narrative. He is very good at pushing the style toward warmth or humor and then immediately pulling back to something horrible. The whole this is quite effective. And the book is handsome (if very oddly shaped). Treat yourself!