Roman Dirge's take on aspects of childhood are wonderful, especially when you filter into account the entirety of his body of work. From Lenore, Monsters in My Tummy, and The Cat with a Really Big Head, there is a scope that hits on what many of the imaginative creators in the past have sculpted, with the addition of Dirge's own thoughts and perspectives. Some dwell in the realm of the silly, some are smothered in darker aspects, and some are just plain twisted.
Within Something at the Window is Scratching, forwarded by Jhonen Vasquez, there are twenty pieces of poetry forming "Children's tales for disturbed children," as the front of the book calls them. Some are just that too, dealing with everything from the silliest of notions in "devil bunny" to darker aspects of demise in "the coo coo lady." Also included in the book is a little treasure hunt Dirge hints that you play. Dirge has hidden "something" in the backgrounds of some of his illustrations. Why would he do this? As he says, "I don't know." Still, it's a bit o' fun for some strange reason.
If you've yet to check out Roman's work, you can begin here if you wish because it is good stuff. For even the casual fan of childhood madness, this is a nice piece to take home to your mother.
