This is the trippiest, most disturbing, frightening version of Toy Story I've ever seen. I expected it to be bizarre, since it's published by Fantagraphics and written and illustrated by a French cartoonist, but the toys really are the stuff of nightmares. The story is barely there -- some kids at a costume contest go into the basement, are mistaken as toys by the secret cabal of abused toys hiding out down there and led to the toy sanctuary, where all the maimed toys are nice until they realize they've been infiltrated by human kids, and it all goes to hell -- but it's the artwork you go for in this kind of book anyway. The ending is disappointing but it could go somewhere better if another volume was published. If ever there was a book that could make you feel like you're on drugs, it's this book. ( )

What happens when your mom won’t let you buy the super-awesome-totally-blood-thirtiest pirate Halloween costume you’ve always wanted and makes you wear a big fluffy pink bunny suit instead? You get banished to the basement and find a secret portal to another world – a magical haven for mistreated toys that come alive when children aren’t in sight. Because of your bunny suit, they mistake you for one of them. But what happens when they find out that you’re one of the nasty little brats that abused them? Readers will have to find out in “Toys in the Basement” a bande dessinee comic (French/Belgium style) by writer and illustrator Stephane Blanquet. The story itself isn’t all that unique – Jim Henson did it first (and with more heart) in “The Christmas Toy” (1987). But Blanquet’s version does have a amusing, wicked twist to it. The illustrations are garish and crowded, creating what looks like too much clutter on the page and the font chosen for the captions is spidery and hard-to-read, though it lends to the overall sinister mood of the comic. However, the abused and broken toys are deliciously freakish and maimed – not to mention the big, gross baddie in the end. Recommended for ages 14-17. ( )