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Discovering Scarfolk
Scarfolk is a town in north-west England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. In Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science, children must not be seen OR heard, and everyone has to be in bed by 8 p.m. because they are perpetually running a slight fever.
A massive cult hit online, Scarfolk re-creates with startling accuracy the darkest childhood memories of the 1970s, all in shiver-inducing visual form. It's surreal, clever and extremely funny.
A massive cult hit online, Scarfolk re-creates with startling accuracy the darkest childhood memories of the 1970s, all in shiver-inducing visual form. It's surreal, clever and extremely funny.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 2, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
October 24, 2015
Welcome to Scarfolk!
...where every day is Friday the 13th.
No. It really is. Just look at the calendar -
Scarfolk is just your ordinary town in Northwest England.
An ordinary town with electrified water and after-school activities for the kiddies like Thump-Chums. (The first rule of Thump-Chums is you can talk about Thump-Chums to whoever you like as long as you thump them.)
In fact, children are one of Scarfolk's most precious commodities.
They believe in educating them and everything, as shown in this math primer for 6 - 7 year-olds:
This is a rather comprehensive tourist guide (for those tourists who have NOT been quarantined), featuring all of Scarfolk's attractions, such as the police flea market which sells forensic evidence, Scarpark, where all foliage is constructed of the finest British concrete, the Outsider's Zoo and Slaughter Gardens and the Scarfolk Drop, a popular destination for despondent visitors, it is open more than 7 days a week, 367 days a year. (Please avoid the Kill Bush underground station which was recently closed due to poltergeist activity.)
This book is a veritable laugh riot for those of you with the proper sense of humor AND for those of you who are chomping at the bit waiting for a Welcome to Night Vale book.
For more information, please reread this review.
And remember:
...where every day is Friday the 13th.
No. It really is. Just look at the calendar -
Scarfolk is just your ordinary town in Northwest England.
An ordinary town with electrified water and after-school activities for the kiddies like Thump-Chums. (The first rule of Thump-Chums is you can talk about Thump-Chums to whoever you like as long as you thump them.)
In fact, children are one of Scarfolk's most precious commodities.
They believe in educating them and everything, as shown in this math primer for 6 - 7 year-olds:
This is a rather comprehensive tourist guide (for those tourists who have NOT been quarantined), featuring all of Scarfolk's attractions, such as the police flea market which sells forensic evidence, Scarpark, where all foliage is constructed of the finest British concrete, the Outsider's Zoo and Slaughter Gardens and the Scarfolk Drop, a popular destination for despondent visitors, it is open more than 7 days a week, 367 days a year. (Please avoid the Kill Bush underground station which was recently closed due to poltergeist activity.)
This book is a veritable laugh riot for those of you with the proper sense of humor AND for those of you who are chomping at the bit waiting for a Welcome to Night Vale book.
For more information, please reread this review.
And remember:
December 26, 2014
So you're like me and grew up watching bad UK sci-fi especially the TV adaptations of "Chocky"and "The Tripods". You are a big fan of John Wyndham. The League of Gentlemen tickled your funny bone.
"Discovering Scarfolk" is for you. Undoubtedly.
A researcher finds the account and collected paraphenalia from a person who was held against his will in a small northern english town in the 1970s. The town no longer exists and it seems to have been covered up.The man tells the account of his twin sons being kidnapped and replaced by doppelgängers, while he encounters a large devil-like beast who has a great affinity for stationery. The victim undergoes years of brainwashing conducted by the local government.
Yes this is entirely satirical, but there are genuine horror element here. The artworks are especially brilliant.
All these artworks originate from the Scarfolk City blog run by Littler, but the text is all new.
"Discovering Scarfolk" is for you. Undoubtedly.
A researcher finds the account and collected paraphenalia from a person who was held against his will in a small northern english town in the 1970s. The town no longer exists and it seems to have been covered up.The man tells the account of his twin sons being kidnapped and replaced by doppelgängers, while he encounters a large devil-like beast who has a great affinity for stationery. The victim undergoes years of brainwashing conducted by the local government.
Yes this is entirely satirical, but there are genuine horror element here. The artworks are especially brilliant.
All these artworks originate from the Scarfolk City blog run by Littler, but the text is all new.
September 7, 2015
I was tricked, or somehow drugged. This is a non-fiction-fiction book. But, is it? I mean the 70's were a freaky time. My father smoked at the dinner table while we were eating. I am really not sure what to say, this being a non-fiction-fiction book. It was as if Monty Python(all of them) and Rod Serling hooked up and wrote...something. My favorite parts were the public service posters and book covers that are throughout the book. Things like "In the playground kids can pick up something more deadly than parasites" or "Never go with strange children" and "Light is expensive , when you're not using your eyes KEEP THEM SHUT, or we will shut them for you" . I hear you asking what is this about? Well I haven't fully decided. But we are given 3 reasons in the book. See page 180 #61. It could a space time continuum, aliens or the author trying to make a name for himself. If you are confused I encourage you to re-read this review.
On a side note I would like to lodge a complaint as I did not get my map (not of Scarfolk) and my rabies hand wipes.
On a side note I would like to lodge a complaint as I did not get my map (not of Scarfolk) and my rabies hand wipes.
July 9, 2015
For more information, please reread this poster.
Based on a blog, Discovering Scarfolk is a horror-comedy in which the tale of a man's search for his missing children is supplemented with 'found' evidence from the sinister town of Scarfolk, perpetually stuck in a macabre version of the 1970s with an ultra-draconian, and probably evil, town council. The story - ostensibly assembled by an academic with little prior knowledge of the main character's life - is illustrated with public information posters, product packaging, book covers and newspaper clippings, amongst other ephemera.
It's not surprising to learn that author Richard Littler is a graphic designer; all the illustrations here (many of which are also featured on the blog) are beautifully executed to the very last detail. The story, though, leaves something to be desired. The silliness that made me laugh out loud at the beginning soon overstayed its welcome; the book is too focused on the graphics to allow the plot to develop into anything you'd care about or be scared by. This is reflected in the blog, which started out as just images but now includes a lot more description around them. It's obvious the popularity of the images has forced the creation of a narrative and not the other way around.
Did I find this an entertaining read? Yes - but the hardback and Kindle editions of the book are both quite expensive, and given the paucity of actual content I think it's probably more sensible to simply read the blog.
Based on a blog, Discovering Scarfolk is a horror-comedy in which the tale of a man's search for his missing children is supplemented with 'found' evidence from the sinister town of Scarfolk, perpetually stuck in a macabre version of the 1970s with an ultra-draconian, and probably evil, town council. The story - ostensibly assembled by an academic with little prior knowledge of the main character's life - is illustrated with public information posters, product packaging, book covers and newspaper clippings, amongst other ephemera.
It's not surprising to learn that author Richard Littler is a graphic designer; all the illustrations here (many of which are also featured on the blog) are beautifully executed to the very last detail. The story, though, leaves something to be desired. The silliness that made me laugh out loud at the beginning soon overstayed its welcome; the book is too focused on the graphics to allow the plot to develop into anything you'd care about or be scared by. This is reflected in the blog, which started out as just images but now includes a lot more description around them. It's obvious the popularity of the images has forced the creation of a narrative and not the other way around.
Did I find this an entertaining read? Yes - but the hardback and Kindle editions of the book are both quite expensive, and given the paucity of actual content I think it's probably more sensible to simply read the blog.
July 4, 2016
Based on the darkly hilarious Scarfolk blog, which presents odd items from the archives of an insular, paranoid, medically unsafe and supernaturally haunted town in the northeast of 1970s England, Discovering Scarfolk attempts to understand what happened to a man who may or may not have been named Daniel Bush, and who may or may not have lost two children who may or not have been his, and may or not have subsequently been held captive in Scarfolk itself. A town which may or may not exist.
The artefacts themselves, from public information posters (‘Turn Heads: Eat Owls’), book covers (‘How to Wash a Child’s Brain’), games (‘Top Tramps’), packaging (‘Scarco Unsolicited Meat’), magazine covers (‘The Unexplaineded’), police reports, and more, are works of near-genius. The poster for the ‘Don’t’ campaign is genius — you can see it at the Scarfolk blog (http://scarfolk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0...). Some are so spot-on that the accompanying story, which attempts to string them all together into one narrative, can’t help but not quite work as well: it’s the suggestion behind the images that works, and the story can’t help but water that suggestiveness down. Nevertheless, the story has a sort of mad Woody Allen-meets-Thomas Ligotti-meets-Terry and June quality you’re sure not to find anywhere else…
Was my 1970s childhood really this dark? More importantly, are today’s children really missing out on being scared into safety by the horror of those public information films that warned us against straying onto railway lines, playing with fireworks, and going off with strangers? Perhaps a good, strong dose of Scarfolk is required.
The artefacts themselves, from public information posters (‘Turn Heads: Eat Owls’), book covers (‘How to Wash a Child’s Brain’), games (‘Top Tramps’), packaging (‘Scarco Unsolicited Meat’), magazine covers (‘The Unexplaineded’), police reports, and more, are works of near-genius. The poster for the ‘Don’t’ campaign is genius — you can see it at the Scarfolk blog (http://scarfolk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0...). Some are so spot-on that the accompanying story, which attempts to string them all together into one narrative, can’t help but not quite work as well: it’s the suggestion behind the images that works, and the story can’t help but water that suggestiveness down. Nevertheless, the story has a sort of mad Woody Allen-meets-Thomas Ligotti-meets-Terry and June quality you’re sure not to find anywhere else…
Was my 1970s childhood really this dark? More importantly, are today’s children really missing out on being scared into safety by the horror of those public information films that warned us against straying onto railway lines, playing with fireworks, and going off with strangers? Perhaps a good, strong dose of Scarfolk is required.
March 7, 2019
I have mixed views on this.
On the one hand the Scarfolk artwork is fantastic - a very original concept which really works for me.
On the other hand the actual text in the book is atrociously written. Daniel visits Scarfolk and his twin sons go missing blah blah blah. I don't know, i think it's supposed to be funny but it missed my funny bone by a significant margin. It's so bad, that you just look forward to examining the next poster or book cover. A shame really as the concept has huge potential.
It is still worth buying just for all the great photos though.
On the one hand the Scarfolk artwork is fantastic - a very original concept which really works for me.
On the other hand the actual text in the book is atrociously written. Daniel visits Scarfolk and his twin sons go missing blah blah blah. I don't know, i think it's supposed to be funny but it missed my funny bone by a significant margin. It's so bad, that you just look forward to examining the next poster or book cover. A shame really as the concept has huge potential.
It is still worth buying just for all the great photos though.
August 7, 2016
Hilarious and terrifying in equal measure. Full review here: http://davidmoody.net/2016/08/07/reco...
February 11, 2018
An accomplished work of creative satire
July 13, 2021
A very fun, breezy pastiche comprising equal parts of The Wicker Man, The Prisoner, George Orwell and even a dash of House of Leaves, all anchored by a surprisingly robust frame narrative given the book’s status as a compilation of loosely-related online material. The vast majority of the jokes land remarkably well, but particularly as the story progresses the frequent diversions into absurd non sequiturs do more and more to stall the plot, robbing several key points of their momentum in favor of unrelated comedic digressions. Still, a very, very fun and quick read and, unrelated to the content, a really beautifully put together and printed book.
September 18, 2020
My wife has actual footage of me in a reading chair, this book prominently open in my lap, and light snores coming from my direction. I will have to deduct one star based on the lack of vaguely Orwellian/Kafkaesque dreams.
The highlight is the painstakingly fabricated yet eerily time-appropriate posters, papers, and informational material, all of which convey a consistently inept surveillance state and callous disregard of human existence. It is really astonishing at how thoroughly Littler worked out the trade dress and artistic styling to nail 1970s Britain and yet lace it with just enough disquieting material to achieve satirical purpose.
While the illustrations achieve that Orwellian body with Kafkaesque aftertaste, it's the written accompaniment that brings the Monty Python flavor notes, and this is not nearly as successful. The tragic conspiracy/horror of Daniel Bush and his children is slathered Pythonesque absurdity, and this absurdity spreads to the narrator's asides as well, outside of Scarfolk. It mars the presentation and makes the work like those extra-rich desserts that you can never finish.
It is only later that I realized the framing device of the entire book: it is a research paper by one Dr. Ben Motte. Who, it is intimated in certain footnotes, is himself incompetent and incapable. The unreliable narrator strikes again.
For more information please reread this review.
The highlight is the painstakingly fabricated yet eerily time-appropriate posters, papers, and informational material, all of which convey a consistently inept surveillance state and callous disregard of human existence. It is really astonishing at how thoroughly Littler worked out the trade dress and artistic styling to nail 1970s Britain and yet lace it with just enough disquieting material to achieve satirical purpose.
While the illustrations achieve that Orwellian body with Kafkaesque aftertaste, it's the written accompaniment that brings the Monty Python flavor notes, and this is not nearly as successful. The tragic conspiracy/horror of Daniel Bush and his children is slathered Pythonesque absurdity, and this absurdity spreads to the narrator's asides as well, outside of Scarfolk. It mars the presentation and makes the work like those extra-rich desserts that you can never finish.
It is only later that I realized the framing device of the entire book: it is a research paper by one Dr. Ben Motte. Who, it is intimated in certain footnotes, is himself incompetent and incapable. The unreliable narrator strikes again.
For more information please reread this review.
November 16, 2014
A painful paper-cut above the traditional tie-in cash-in, I was perversely pleased to find this genuinely disturbing. There are many cheap and easy comparative options to be had, so here are a few of mine: Reggie Perrin stars in the Wicker Man, Children of the Stones remade by Monty Python, The Prisoner set in the Crossroads Motel. From the time when abandoned fridges, shiny floors and chip pans were as terrifying as terrorism is now. Towards the end it even began to remind me of Danielewski's House of Leaves. That alone is disorientating.
And remember, most importantly, whatever you're doing, don't.
For more information, please re-read this review.
And remember, most importantly, whatever you're doing, don't.
For more information, please re-read this review.
October 31, 2015
I LOVED the posters, but the story was only so-so.
Buyer beware: If you buy it from a seller on Amazon.com, you may end up getting the original version, which had a major printing error (all the images are low-resolution). But if you contact the publisher, they will send you a replacement.
Buyer beware: If you buy it from a seller on Amazon.com, you may end up getting the original version, which had a major printing error (all the images are low-resolution). But if you contact the publisher, they will send you a replacement.
November 7, 2021
It is a book that is written in words that contain letters. I would compare it to books that are similar to itself and recommend anyone that will like this book to read it.
May 6, 2020
The art and graphic design was fantastic. The plot and humor left a lot to be desired and read like a forced attempt to explain the graphics.
November 12, 2014
I can’t say when I first stumbled across Littler’s Scarfolk site. Probably one of the usual suspects (Brazill or Billson). I’m pretty sure it was on Twitter, but it doesn’t really matter. What I discovered was that I knew that place very well. A lot of my friends had been scarred by living in 1970s Britain which seemed to be a time and place determined to foist the uncanny onto all its citizens. People would speak in hushed tones with glazed eyes and trembling lips of that Donald Pleasance-voiced public information film, or the weirdness of all those various warnings to the curious that frightened them so badly as children. Television was full of unsettling stories from Penda’s Fen and The Owl Service or off-kilter programmes like The Tomorrow People (isn’t that the one, Mr. B?).
Imagine being held captive there forever.
Littler specialises in authentic looking paperbacks.
Well, you don’t have to imagine it because Littler has created it through books, posters, pamphlets and brochures and now a creepy, amazing book that will delight and amuse and make you cringe and keep turning the pages while you shudder at some of the ideas. It’s all beautifully and convincingly rendered. Littler has a terrific eye for replicating those 70s design styles in a palette of colours that look just right for the time but aged as if they have lasted. Even the endpapers look well aged and wholly convincing, the WE WATCH YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP from the omnipresent Scarfolk Council Public Information Bureau, who warns “for further information please reread this poster” against the image of an all-seeing eye (in your face, T. J. Eckleberg!) and the line of gloomy row houses.
It would be enough if the images were simply entertaining — and they certainly are. The skill and the choices are so disturbing and well done that you cannot fail to be amused if you are of that sort of mind (deeply twisted and able to laugh at horrible things). More than mere amusement, however, Littler has put a finger on the pulse of how we make our horrors — how we create fear and things to fear. We’re in the midst of the worst Dark Ages now, a time when willful ignorance reigns, when we have the knowledge of history at our fingertips and communication with the world an instant away but use that to divide ourselves, torture our enemies and (especially in the United States) kill each other in the name of ‘rights’ that are deliberately misinterpreted.
I highly recommend this book. I know it will continue to amuse and unsettle me for a very long time — and I’m not saying that because I took my Lobottymed.
Imagine being held captive there forever.
Littler specialises in authentic looking paperbacks.
Well, you don’t have to imagine it because Littler has created it through books, posters, pamphlets and brochures and now a creepy, amazing book that will delight and amuse and make you cringe and keep turning the pages while you shudder at some of the ideas. It’s all beautifully and convincingly rendered. Littler has a terrific eye for replicating those 70s design styles in a palette of colours that look just right for the time but aged as if they have lasted. Even the endpapers look well aged and wholly convincing, the WE WATCH YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP from the omnipresent Scarfolk Council Public Information Bureau, who warns “for further information please reread this poster” against the image of an all-seeing eye (in your face, T. J. Eckleberg!) and the line of gloomy row houses.
It would be enough if the images were simply entertaining — and they certainly are. The skill and the choices are so disturbing and well done that you cannot fail to be amused if you are of that sort of mind (deeply twisted and able to laugh at horrible things). More than mere amusement, however, Littler has put a finger on the pulse of how we make our horrors — how we create fear and things to fear. We’re in the midst of the worst Dark Ages now, a time when willful ignorance reigns, when we have the knowledge of history at our fingertips and communication with the world an instant away but use that to divide ourselves, torture our enemies and (especially in the United States) kill each other in the name of ‘rights’ that are deliberately misinterpreted.
I highly recommend this book. I know it will continue to amuse and unsettle me for a very long time — and I’m not saying that because I took my Lobottymed.
November 27, 2014
Fans of weird fiction - or anything weird, really - would do well to pick up this tome, based on the Scarfolk website that posits the existence of a surreal, totalitarian dystopia somewhere in northern England where things have never really moved on from the worst week of 1974. The website is an archive of ingenious mockups of artifacts from the town of Scarfolk - public health posters, old books, cassette tape covers, etc. - and the book includes a great deal of that material, but wraps it around a funny, frightening tale of a man trapped in Scarfolk as he tries to locate his missing sons. A book that's not really like any other.
December 27, 2014
I bought this for my partner but they were laughing so hard reading it that I thought I should read it too. It is very funny. Odd 70s town where everything is very unpleasant and there are mysterious stationary supplies cults, evil children, mass surveillance and a stranger who gets caught up in all the madness. The missing person story is a good hook for presenting the material. Definitely recommended.
January 24, 2020
Daniel Bush makes a dreadful mistake when he stops off at Scarfolk, and when his two sons are abducted he must overcome the town’s totalitarian leadership, the paranoia of its brainwashed inhabitants and the dark secrets at the town’s malevolent heart.
Littler’s influences are obvious: Scarfolk’s twin towns include Night Vale and Royston Vasey, notable residents include Patrick McGoohan and Lemony Snicket, ‘The Wicker Man’ looms like a shadow, and the epistolary “third party attempts to make sense of a barely-coherent jumble of documents from an unknown author” format adopted by the book makes Scarfolk a sort of Council House Of Leaves.
Originally a long-running blog and social media art experiment, driven predominantly by the art more than the words, what the book demonstrates is that as Littler created his spoofs of 1970s public information films, alarming government posters and barely-comprehensible warning signs, he had a coherent overarching mythos all along. It’s violent, bleak, bizarre and funny. Please take your litter and other family members with you when leaving Goodreads. For more information please re-read this review.
Littler’s influences are obvious: Scarfolk’s twin towns include Night Vale and Royston Vasey, notable residents include Patrick McGoohan and Lemony Snicket, ‘The Wicker Man’ looms like a shadow, and the epistolary “third party attempts to make sense of a barely-coherent jumble of documents from an unknown author” format adopted by the book makes Scarfolk a sort of Council House Of Leaves.
Originally a long-running blog and social media art experiment, driven predominantly by the art more than the words, what the book demonstrates is that as Littler created his spoofs of 1970s public information films, alarming government posters and barely-comprehensible warning signs, he had a coherent overarching mythos all along. It’s violent, bleak, bizarre and funny. Please take your litter and other family members with you when leaving Goodreads. For more information please re-read this review.
August 29, 2018
After multiple readings I feel that I have been mentally disfigured for life. Sadly I don't think many people will be able to tell the difference. I recommend this book for anyone who grew up in the 1970s and is already so warped that any further dysfunction will simply be rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
I should point out that I sniggered and cackled at each rereading, though not always in the same places. There was also some drooling, but this washes out eventually. Like a suppurating wound, this is a gift that keeps on giving. Scarfolk may be in the north-west and Suffolk in the east, but they must surely be twinned.
No Scarf-nots were harmed in the writing of this review, but some office supplies were noticeably inconvenienced. Surely the best tourist guide I have ever read.
I should point out that I sniggered and cackled at each rereading, though not always in the same places. There was also some drooling, but this washes out eventually. Like a suppurating wound, this is a gift that keeps on giving. Scarfolk may be in the north-west and Suffolk in the east, but they must surely be twinned.
No Scarf-nots were harmed in the writing of this review, but some office supplies were noticeably inconvenienced. Surely the best tourist guide I have ever read.
January 3, 2019
Discovering Scarfolk is a visitor's guide to a small town in the UK, a real tourist trap (entirely literally). Full of helpful advice, such as "Don't go with strange children", "Stop" and "Don't", this is an indispensable guide to getting out alive.
If you're a Welcome to Night Vale fan, you'll find a lot to like here. This book is unsettling blend of horror and humour, each pitched perfectly to avoid tipping completely in either direction. A shortish read, but I doubt you'll be able to resist sending at least one of the many posters to someone you know!
If you're a Welcome to Night Vale fan, you'll find a lot to like here. This book is unsettling blend of horror and humour, each pitched perfectly to avoid tipping completely in either direction. A shortish read, but I doubt you'll be able to resist sending at least one of the many posters to someone you know!
February 26, 2020
Like buses five star ratings come along in pairs.
This book is brilliant, bonkers, funny, and utterly disturbing in equal measures. The concept is good, and the alternate reality of 1970's England is just outside the bounds of what would happen, but tangible enough to make it seem possible.
The creation of all the posters, books, food, adverts are amazing.
Definitely worth reading. (For more information reread this review).
This book is brilliant, bonkers, funny, and utterly disturbing in equal measures. The concept is good, and the alternate reality of 1970's England is just outside the bounds of what would happen, but tangible enough to make it seem possible.
The creation of all the posters, books, food, adverts are amazing.
Definitely worth reading. (For more information reread this review).
May 18, 2021
It’s pretty good. The invented memorabilia is a great touch and the humor and satire generally hit the mark. Still, it’s more flippant than anything, so the story of the missing sons doesn’t make a big impact and scarfolk never really gets established in a memorable and unique way, more so serving as a vehicle for the book’s excursions into cold-war-era paranoiac nostalgia.
Worth a skim at least.
Worth a skim at least.
July 24, 2024
DNF'd at 43%.
While a funny experience for most of the book, I ended up getting more and more sidetracked as the book advanced... Well, advancing is a way of putting up what this book does. It works in a different wavelength and sadly I just couldn't follow.
Great experience to have though! Maybe when my third eye opens I'll try picking it up again.
While a funny experience for most of the book, I ended up getting more and more sidetracked as the book advanced... Well, advancing is a way of putting up what this book does. It works in a different wavelength and sadly I just couldn't follow.
Great experience to have though! Maybe when my third eye opens I'll try picking it up again.
July 12, 2019
This is a work of genius. I wish I could give it ten stars.
September 21, 2019
A masterpiece of dark humour through social dreaming. For more information please reread this review.
March 25, 2020
Sooo good. Very dark and slightly worrying.
October 11, 2022
This book is very silly
September 6, 2020
At last! After months of looking at this book I'm finished! It's way too nonsensical for me to enjoy it, but it did make me laugh at parts. I acknowledge the creativity needed to come up with something like this. Can't say I didn't slog through it though.
February 2, 2022
for me the rather subtle humour in this book doesn't make up for it being DEEPLY unsettling
December 22, 2014
I've always really enjoyed the Scarfolk Council blog ever since I've discovered it from some source or another,
so when it was announced that the supernatural/totalitarian community would be committed to print, I was very anxious to see the result.
Sadly, the book format added some problems to the winning formula.
First of all, the fictional account of the demise of the Bush family in Scarfolk don't contribute at all, I think.
The excessively tongue-in-cheek quality of the narrative cheapens the satire, especially given the dark nature of some of the themes, and the humour falls flat in many places.
Also, the narrative develops the Scarfolk mythology in an unsatisfying way, veering from the ominous and vague folkloric-totalitarian tone of the blog to a much less believable stationery-worshipping cult that do not tie very well to the established mythos and pretty much alienate any social commentary intended by the blog imagery.
Secondly (and even more importantly, given the visual nature of the material of the Scarfolk Council blog), the print quality of the book leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the illustrations were clearly intended for the digital page, i think.
At first, because of the washed-up colors of the images, I thought it was on purpose, some kind of 70's-esque nod, but the pixellation and low resolution of the images is quite clear in some points. As one of the greatest trumps of the blog is exactly the amazing Scarfolk design aesthetics, it is very unfortunate to see the images in such low quality.
All in all, even though it is an enjoyable read, "Discovering Scarfolk" does not strike the same chords as the original blog. The source material and tone are still there, but somewhat marred by unneeded buffoonery and image quality.
so when it was announced that the supernatural/totalitarian community would be committed to print, I was very anxious to see the result.
Sadly, the book format added some problems to the winning formula.
First of all, the fictional account of the demise of the Bush family in Scarfolk don't contribute at all, I think.
The excessively tongue-in-cheek quality of the narrative cheapens the satire, especially given the dark nature of some of the themes, and the humour falls flat in many places.
Also, the narrative develops the Scarfolk mythology in an unsatisfying way, veering from the ominous and vague folkloric-totalitarian tone of the blog to a much less believable stationery-worshipping cult that do not tie very well to the established mythos and pretty much alienate any social commentary intended by the blog imagery.
Secondly (and even more importantly, given the visual nature of the material of the Scarfolk Council blog), the print quality of the book leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the illustrations were clearly intended for the digital page, i think.
At first, because of the washed-up colors of the images, I thought it was on purpose, some kind of 70's-esque nod, but the pixellation and low resolution of the images is quite clear in some points. As one of the greatest trumps of the blog is exactly the amazing Scarfolk design aesthetics, it is very unfortunate to see the images in such low quality.
All in all, even though it is an enjoyable read, "Discovering Scarfolk" does not strike the same chords as the original blog. The source material and tone are still there, but somewhat marred by unneeded buffoonery and image quality.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews