The Ghost, The Owl

Pros: gorgeous artwork

Cons: the story jumps around

A ghost girl who doesn't remember her past is aided by a friendly owl. Meanwhile, the woman who lives nearby is being menaced by an angry man.

The artwork is gorgeous. It's all flowing waves of monochrome and colour that gives the book a surreal feel. I loved how the waves join objects (like the panel where one eye belongs to the owl, the other to the crow, with the beak being the owl in flight). The animals look realistic, even as the ghost has a dreamy look to her.

The story jumped around a fair bit, bringing in a lot of details but not explaining much. Several things relied more on cliches than development in the story. I did like the idea that your actions can have long term consequences - the owl has helped others and they willingly help him because of that. I was left wondering why the animals didn't want the owl to help the woman. Sure, they're different species, but she treats the land much better than the man would.

If you like the cover's style, the artwork is definitely worth it.

I picked this up for Sara Richard's art. She's amazing and I've bought some of her enamel pins. The story had gorgeous art, Franco's story could have been longer, but was good.

''She's not a real girl. She's a ghost.''
''Then why can we see her?''
''We can see them. It's humans who can't.''

Sometimes we discover little gems out of nowhere. We, obsessed readers as we are, have experienced this countless times. It is one of the greatest joys of reading. So, three nights ago as I was waiting for the L.A.Clippers game to start, I started browsing Edelweiss and the title ‘‘The Ghost, The Owl'' caught my eye. Yes, well, obviously. Ghosts, owls....This had my name written all over. The only thing that made me hesitate was the fact that comics don't seem particularly appealing to me but the few times I've tried my luck with the genre haven't disappointed me. This beautiful work was no exception.

''...people don't voluntarily help others.''

The ghost of a young girl comes in a swamp. She can't remember anything from her time among the living and a young owl decides to help her discover the reason that caused her death. Naturally, they come across pure, kind-hearted people and despicable human beings who want to destroy everything and everyone that resist their vile advances. The decision of the owl is a violation of the law that forbids any kind of intervention in the lives of the humans and thus, an unusual, beautiful journey begins.

I was surprised by how poignant the plot of this comic was. Fellowship, hope, loss, the chance to survive, to defeat the evils in our life, to start again. The notion that, sometimes, you have to cross certain boundaries and ignore restrictions, otherwise you will lose yourself. I was moved and impressed by the beautiful illustrations by Sara Richard. I think they were extremely vivid- almost too vivid- and the dialogue was quite satisfying. There was a modern Gothic touch that brought the whole effort together and created a thoughtful, skillfully artistic comic. 

Irrelevant Point n.1 : I was so impressed by this that I felt confident enough to try my luck with another comic titled ‘‘The Lost Path'', a story set in a strange forest. Bring all the Gothic comics to this metalhead.🤘🤘🤘

Irrelevant Point n.2 : This is the review where I disclose my favourite NBA team. Utterly useless information but I feel talkative today.🏀🏀

Many thanks to Action Lab Entertainment and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.