Advance Review: ‘A Haunted Girl’ #2 Needs To Work On Its Pacing
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
There’s the story, then the story within the story. Both are intriguing, but the tale presented here is taking a bit too long to unfold given there are only two issues left in the run. Some uneven artwork isn’t helping matters.
Overall
8/10For kids who are battling mental disorders such as depression, just getting out of bed and dragging themselves to school every more can be an ordeal. The same is true for their parents who just want to help their child live a so-called normal life.
That kind of mental disease dominates the plot of A Haunted Girl – both on and off the printed page. In the story, 16-year-old adoptee Cleo Newman is battling severe depression and anxiety. She has hallucinations, including a zombified buck and blood falling from the sky like rain, though it’s not entirely clear that these images she sees are false. Meanwhile her dad Gus tries to deal with his daughter’s anxiety as best he can. But he knows he’s not equipped to deal with a crisis of this nature.
Art imitates life here, as the father-daughter writing team of Ethan and Naomi Sacks play out a scene similar to their own lives. Ehan came up with the idea a few years ago when his daughter was hospitalized. The result is this limited series that tells the story of a girl who has the power to save the world but isn’t sure she wants to be a part of it anymore.
As strong a premise as that is, we only understand the extent of the plot because of promotional materials. The story’s pace is quite slow for a four-part miniseries. Yes, depression in teens is an epidemic level since the pandemic, and the matter requires our urgent attention. But the writers have spent most of their time – appropriately enough – bringing Cleo’s illness to life. This extinction-level threat to humanity has barely been touched up and time is rapidly running out.
Depicting that threat is where artist Marco Lorenzana does his best work. The zombies – made ice blue thanks to colorist Andres Mossa – is the visual high point of the issue. Most of the rest of the people in the book are crudely rendered and somewhat awkward.
When most people learn the story behind the story, A Haunted Girl is one of those series that readers want to be able to support. But they’re going to need a little more help from the creative team to help them on that journey.
A Haunted Girl #2 will be available for purchase on November 15, 2023.
