100 Pages of Horror – The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes

The amazing SelfMadeHero have more than made a name for themselves publishing a stream of amazing graphic novels many of which we have had the wonderfully opportunity to review on this very site.

With M. Night Shyamalan adapting one of their properties Sandcastle into his latest mind-bending motion picture entitled Old, it seems this independent UK publisher may finally get the recognition it deserves for putting out such innovative and interesting graphic novels, novels exactly like their latest release The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes.

Having studied printmaking at the Royal College of Art Gareth Brookes has written and illustrated several works including A Thousand Coloured Castles (2017) and The Black Project, which was nominated for an award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2018. His work has appeared in ArtReview, has been published by Kuš and was included in the Comics Unmasked exhibition at the British Library in 2014.

Brookes has a distinct and highly evocative style blending his trademark “pyrographic” technique which is a method of making drawings using heated implements, with vibrant embroidery that colourfully illuminates the more surreal and supernatural elements of his twisted tale which believe me there are plenty of!

Based on real life cases and true events The Dancing Plague is one of the many historical events that seemingly defies explanation. Properly termed as choreomania these outbreaks of dancing madness, where whole swathes of the populace were seized by the urge to move and unable to stop, became documented through several Northern States of Europe from the 14th to early 16th centuries.

Some scholars argue that it was an illness, some say it was an act of rebellion, others believe it was drug induced while those more open to otherworldly elements see it as a spate of demonic possessions. One such expert is Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval Studies, Birkbeck University who provides an informative and insightful foreword to Brookes book.

Explaining some of the elements of dancing mania and filling in some of the history, as well as explaining some of the more peculiar lines of dialogue the reader encounters, Bale also reveals that the narrative is drawn from two key sources and two important real life female figures who are combined to form the stories central character Mary.

In Bale’s own words from the introduction “Gareth Brookes’s extraordinary exploration of dance, mania, and gender in late medieval Europe speaks to some key issues in human society” and this is indeed true especially in our age of pandemics and paranoia where the rights of everyone save the white male ruling classes are at risk.

Set in 1518 we watch as the inhabitants of Strasbourg are taken by the unstoppable urge to dance. Starting out with one person who is ignored and mocked by her neighbours the town becomes slowly infected with more and more men, women and children compelled to move even though there is no music
With no explanation available the elders and religious leaders try all sorts of cures but fail to stop the perpetual motion that overcomes more and more of the populace. Those possessed by the plague cannot be verbally reasoned with or physically stopped even ignoring their own injuries and dancing on with blood soaked feet and broken bones.

Witness to all this is Mary who after losing her husband and child to the mysterious malady finally uncovers the true puppeteer behind the plague. Prone to mystic visions as a child Mary is the only one who can see the disgusting and hideous demonic figures who force her fellow town folk to dance taking their lives and soul’s away from them.

We soon learn however that her gift has proven to be a terrible curse forcing her to live a life of oppression where often times she has been a scapegoat for the wicked and insidious men around her. Will the same happen again or can she break the cycle and escape? You will have to read The Dancing Plague to find out.

The hardship of life during those times, especially for women, is shocking and the mundane menace and tortuous toil of everyday living is stunningly slammed against the biblical and fantastical elements of the story.

The plain brown shaded technique Brookes regularly uses is infused with bright and eye catching embroidery that brings to life the angels and demons Mary sees poignantly making them not only spectacularly stand out but also giving them a transcendent texture.

A disturbing and terrible tale Brooks creatively combines considerable historical research with a fictitious narrative to illuminate not only a forgotten and unexplainable event from our history but also to allow us to see parallels with our current COVID infested age.

The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes is available now from various book stores so check out the SelfMadeHero website HERE for more info on ordering. Lastly if you want to read previous horror book and graphic novel reviews from our 100 Pages of Horror series, including a host of other SelfMadeHero titles, just click HERE