Two Graves Vol. 1: Wish You Were Here
Genevieve Valentine, story; Ming Doyle & Annie Wu, art; Lee Loughridge, colors
Image Comics, 2023
The story opens in an open, desolate area. Our heroine (a young woman named Emilia) picks up a strange man in a bar. As they drive out into the desert it quickly becomes clear that she knows things she should not know: his name and the name of the woman he killed three years ago. Suddenly they encounter a man with a veil of smoke obscuring his face, who takes the killer's life. The two of them continue in the man's truck, and the story largely shifts to something else: a road trip to the Atlantic Ocean to spread Emilia's mother's ashes. But Death (the man) has lives to take on the way, and Emilia watches. In time she is revealed as a soul who was supposed to be carried over. For the first time he took her as a companion instead, and soon they find themselves hunted by three other manifestations of Death, who insist that it is past Emilia's time to be carried over. In the end, she makes a bargain and takes his place as a member of the Death Squad: so, there are two potential storylines for the series as it continues. The story is visually striking: the two artists each take different points of view, but their styles are so complimentary that the switches are barely noticeable. But despite literally involving life and death matters, the emotional tone is mostly cool and distant. Perhaps that makes sense when most of the characters are either supernatural beings or humans about to transition from life into death. The collection also includes short prose stories that complement each of the six chapters, and Appendices showing the development process (including script pages, layouts, inks, and character studies).
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I found this to be an interesting little series. It actually took me a little while to get into it, but I am glad I stuck with it.