Spectregraph TPB (Mark Tynion IV and Christian Ward)
If you aren't into the graphic novel scene, or are mostly only familiar with it from the DC/Marvel side of the picture, you may not know just how many incredibly good graphic novels out there in the horror genre (also, the crime genre). Image and Dark Horse are the largest non-big-two names most are familiar with, but other publishers exist and are knocking it out of the park. In this case, DSTLRY is releasing several remarkable graphic novels in a larger format, of which Spectregraph is my favorite so far.
The story focuses on an immense, mysterious mansion once the domain of a wealthy American industrialist named Ambrose. Ambrose was obsessed with the occult and belonged to a secret society of like-minded individuals, but in the sixties he grew disenchanted with the lack of evidence of supernatural phenomenon and ghosts in particular. He took a new approach: he wanted to find out how to make ghosts. The house became a lifelong project with his partner, a man ho would outlive him. When Ambrose died, the house went for sale on the market.
Enter Jamie, a harried mess of a woman who is stressed about losing her job ass a real estate agent, and also so frazzled she leaves her infant son at home alone. Jamie rushes to meet with the mysterious party interested in viewing the house for possible sale, and meets Vesper, a morbid and depressed goth girl who represents the mysterious client. Together they enter the house for a tour of the mysterious Ambrose's decades-long project.
Vesper and Jamie arrive in the centerpiece of the eerie mansion eventually: a chamber which is code locked and key locked, and reveals an immense ocular object that renders them both unconscious, though not before Vesper reveals something stranger is going on by knocking out Jamie. When all is done, they find that the building is locked down, the key is missing, and horrific ghosts that appear to be disembodied masses of body parts roam the halls, full of harmful malice. The two are forced to work together to get to the heart of the mystery....a mystery in which Vesper reveals that the Spectegraph was supposed to kill her and turn her into a ghost, except it didn't work!
I hesitate to write any more on Spectregraph as it is a worthy read and if you find the lead in above tantalizing, I suggest finding a copy and reading it, instead. Tynion has been pretty consistently knocking it out of the park with his horror trades (WorldTr33, Something is Killing the Children and The Nice House by the Lake are all outstanding works of his), and Christian Ward's art style works exceedingly well for Spectregraph's mashup of haunted puzzle mansion and disembodied floating gore bag ghosts.
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