Ghosts Etc. (YA / Adult Graphic Novel Review) by George Wylesol (Avery Hill Publishing)

As comics and graphic novels become more and more widely recognised as art forms in their own right, artists and writers are beginning to push the format to its limits with their exploration of our humanity and our impact on our environment...
In George Wylesol's atmospheric "Ghosts, Etc", the artist explores a set of curiosity-piquing vignettes collected together with a unique and ethereal graphic style.

Baltimore-based Wylesol examines the seemingly everyday and mundane world around us, delving into spaces and structures that visually tell their own stories without words.

With just a whiff of dark humour, and many trippy moments of suggestive storytelling, it's a compelling voyage through a nameless character's mind as he works the night shift at a local hospital, discovering the labyrinth of tunnels that lay beneath the more familiar corridors, wards and rooms.

The character is convinced that ghosts inhabit the hospital. Perhaps spirits of long-dead patients who cannot cross over, or more nefarious dark spirits who are intrigued by our world.

The stories intermingle as other characters are introduced to the same familiar yet jarring world...

Who is the stranger in the wooden mask?

Each of the tales lets the reader's imagination fly loose, sometimes disturbing, often jarring but it's an amazing collection of tales that slowly descends into a surreal fantasy landscape constructed around the central character's mind wanderings during his utterly soul destroying job (I am pretty sure a few of us can DIRECTLY relate to that).

Mysterious, compelling, fascinating and highly original storytelling in "Ghosts, Etc."

I was completely captivated by this, feeling instantly fresh and original compared to most of my current Graphic Novel reading pile. As I've said, it's absolutely brimming with atmosphere - and if you can get into George's mindset here, you'll see why this gets such a huge thumbs up.

"Ghosts, Etc." by George Wylesol is out now, published by Avery Hill Publishing (kindly supplied in digital format for review).