A Haunted Girl #1 Review
A Haunted Girl #1 Review
Written By – Ethan Sacks & Naomi Sacks
Art – Marco Lorenzana
When you hear true events inspire a book or movie, they always hit a little differently. When the book happens to be a four-part horror comic series from Image Comics, written by a father and daughter duo, it’s more than enough to pique one’s interest. Add some fantastic art by Marco Lorenzana and a lovely cover from Joe Quesada, bringing us to A Haunted Girl.
To paraphrase the words of the father, he came up with the story four years ago, when his daughter was hospitalized. To paraphrase the words of the daughter, she and the main character, Cleo, share a lot of the same struggles and feelings of hopelessness. And, not to make light of a horrible situation, but let’s hope that’s where the similarities end.
As you may have guessed, the book starts with Cleo in the hospital, seemingly being treated for depression and recovering from a suicide attempt. Everything looks good, and it looks like she is on the mend, that is until she is visited by an odd, and mildly terrifying, spirit. As standard practice in these situations goes, this is put down to a symptom of her condition and we see Cleo released into the care of her father and attempt to slip back into her normal life.
Unfortunately, because people are the worst, they don’t make it easy for our sixteen-year-old heroine, and she doesn’t last the first full day in school before the comments and taunts get too much. As if that wasn’t enough, the supernatural fun doesn’t end there, as things continue to get epically weirder for the tortured teen, and this looks to be only the beginning.
There is very little speech in this book. Thankfully there doesn’t need to be as the art carries the story beautifully. Like I said before, there is nothing radically different here. The “teenage protagonist sees something crazy and no one believes them” trope has been here for a long time, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. There’s a reason for that though, it’s realistic, believable, and relatable. Would you believe a teenager if they told you they were seeing ghosts? Especially one suffering from depression? Would you Hell! You’d try and get them the treatment they needed to feel better while ignoring everything they said.
I for one, love stories like this. My favorites are when we, the audience, are unsure as to whether the protagonist is crazy or not. This isn’t the case with A Haunted Girl, we know that this girl is seeing actual ghosts, but I’m still on board. The story is fast-paced and engaging and the end of the first book definitely leaves you wanting to know what’s coming next.
You are not alone
Everyone is affected by depression, either directly or indirectly. If you find yourself feeling low or experiencing suicidal thoughts, please talk to someone, anyone! Everyone you know would rather you were there than not, and suicide never ends the pain, it just passes it on to someone else.
Suicide Prevention, UK – 118 7866
Suicide Prevention US – 988
A Haunted Girl #1 will be available on October 11th from Image Comics.
Jay Martin
Jay is an Auto Electrician and wanna-be writer from Manchester, UK. A long-time lover of comics, books, movies, and TV, he decided to try his hand at writing some of them around 2016. Since then, he has produced and self-published a number of comics, including ALV and the KA Anthology, and also his first novel, Domeinion.
Jay’s first full-length graphic novel was released in 2022, Knights Vs Pirates, with the small press publisher Reckless Hero, and remains a member of the group to this day. Jay can also be found on the video/podcasts The Movie Garage and Man Vs Reality. not action figures.