Review: Domovoi

Peter Bergting‘s Domovoi is the story of a girl named Jennie, her talking cat Bulka, and the supernatural beings that exist in the shadows just beyond the waking world. It’s a unique comic, but it draws its varied inspiration from stories both new and old. The easiest way for me to describe Domovoi is to point out its similarities to different comics. The folktale-inspired creatures and spirits are just like the ones you’d expect to see in Hellboy (A domovoi actually appears in Hellboy: Darkness Calls), but the structure of the story and character dynamics are straight out of Tintin. I’m not the first to point out these qualities, but I think they’re apt comparisons, and they carry over to Bergting’s excellent artwork as well. But it’s not fair to Domovoi to describe it simply through reference to other works. This book has a character all its own, combining old European folklore with modern characters and themes.

The word domovoi refers to the house spirits of Slavic folklore. In some myths as well as this book, that spirit takes the form of a short, bearded old man who looks after the house, but a domovoi can have a different appearance too…

But this story is not just about domovoi; it’s filled with creatures and spirits ranging from ghosts and witches to rusalka and werewolves. And the comic doesn’t need to explain all these beings to the reader; in Domovoi, Bergting establishes from the start that this is a world where the mundane and supernatural blend together, with subtle transitions between the two. Perhaps the most obvious is the change between day and night, and the significance of dusk and dawn in the world of Domovoi: the times when worlds overlap.

Bergting doesn’t resort to lengthy explanation of the mythology, but he includes little details that give the reader just enough information to understand each occurrence. A great example in this book is the encounter with werewolves. The reader is never directly told what they are; they’re just talking wolves. But on a nearby tree are hanging the human skins that the wolves wear as a disguise.

There’s a certain coherence to the mythology: Bergting makes sure that each spirit obeys a set of rules and acts in a certain way, depending on their folkloric traditions. But of course, they all have slight modern twists to them. The poleviki, or field spirits, are supernatural hit-men who run down their victims with a car instead of a horse. Ivan the domovoi can’t resist stopping at a flea market, and the sudice, or the fates, are playing cards in a dark room on an old boat. 

Domovoi is packed with these little details that enrich the world Bergting has created, and of course they aren’t limited to the writing; the artwork reinforces the feel of the world as well. The buildings tower over cobblestone streets, casting shadows in the predawn light while ghosts and fairies hide from the coming sunrise. Bergting has a distinctive art style that helps Domovoi stand out. The world he draws is full of shadows and the story has a few dark turns, but the humor and sometimes cartoony character designs keep the tone light-hearted.

But many old fairy tales are quite dark, after all. Domovoi is pretty cheerful in comparison to some of those, and in a way, it is a kind of fairy tale. Of course Domovoi isn’t a story that’s been told from generation to generation, but the folk tales inspiring it are those kinds of stories. For the cover price of $19.99, Domovoi is a great comic, a modern story following a long tradition of folklore and fairy tales. I highly recommend it.

Danilo Culibrk, aka Augustus, is a staff writer for the Red Shirt Crew. He can only be seen by humans at noon and sunset. At other times you can follow his journeys beyond the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom on Twitter at @Augustusing or leave a comment below.