Somewhere in Massachusetts, two best friends, Darra and Andrea, struggle with the reality of growing up and growing apart. As they start high school and consider their futures, one wants to stay put while the other can’t wait to get away, which inevitably strains their friendship. When they break into an abandoned, supposedly haunted factory and the ghostly woman trapped there offers one of them eternal youth, they accidentally unleash something sinister on their unsuspecting small town.
I really liked this one, which is unsurprising since this publisher (Iron Circus Comics) is extremely solid. Both the art style and the story itself reminded me of the vignettes scattered throughout the Sandman books. It has the same kind of ethereal quality to it, like you’re floating through a dream, which incidentally also supports the main plotline of the graphic novel: a mystery of townsfolk floating through the world, detached from time and memory, as their time is literally stolen from them by this mysterious woman of the “fair folke.”
Ultimately it comes down to these two teens and a former mortal—turned immortal thanks to Big Fae Energy over there—to stop her. And what happens when you throw teen angst and a time-stealing immortal into the bubbling historical cauldron of nowhere, Massachusetts? A spooky tale of what it means to grow older, and the consequences of trying to fight the inescapable tide of time. Perfect for Halloween season, especially if you’re planning any trips to Salem or other creepy New England haunts.