A GIFT FOR A GHOST

RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher Abrams ComicArts

Writer/artist Borja González

Borja González’s long-form debut (translated here from the original Spanish) is a peculiar timeslip tale that focuses on a pair of young women in different centuries, whose lives intertwine around a box of poetry.

In 1856 a young poet, Teresa, bumps into a skeleton in the middle of the night, down by the lake. It’s not very scary – in fact, it seems rather nonplussed at the idea that it’s even dead. Some time later (160 years, in fact), another young woman, Laura, finds a box full of Teresa’s abandoned poems and decides to use them as lyrics for her punk band, called The Black Holes.

The plot starts and stops pretty much there, but González’s book plays with time in fascinating ways, with the characters from 1856 and 2016 seeming to slip into and out of each other’s time periods. It’s eerie and haunting (in every sense), like a soft goth Alan Garner novel, but also tender and playful.

González’s art definitely echoes Mike Mignola, but his lines are more delicate, and full of unique touches that are all his own – like the fact that nobody here (the skeleton aside, ironically) appears to have a face!

Does it make sense? Umm… sort of. It’s enigmatic to say the least, but it will win your heart with its dreamy atmosphere and dark romanticism.

Will Salmon