This new graphic novel from acclaimed cartoonist Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, BodyWorld, New School) is his most taut book to date. Dr. Cho is the creator of the Charon, a device that allows his staff to enter a dead patient's afterlife by taking the form of a memory in the patient's consciousness, and bring him or her back to life, with one catch: the experience is traumatic and the process kills them again soon thereafter. But for some bereaved, the opportunity is priceless. So when Bell is killed in a random accident, her daughter hires Dr. Cho's team to bring her back. But what if Bell didn't want to come back? The dying unconsciously create the afterlife they want, or feel they deserve, in their minds before everything fades to black. Isn't that better than the reality, and no less meaningful than life itself? Can unconsciousness coexist with consciousness? Part science-fiction thriller, part family drama, part morality play for the 21st century, and quite possibly Shaw's best book to date.
“The artist makes a statement, subtly, about the worlds we build for ourselves and the materials from which we construct them, but Shaw is rarely interested in simple answers. ... There’s little restraint here: Shaw’s impulse shies away from the stereotypically 'classy,' and instead bangs together two under-respected genres, leads to something strange and wonderful — yet again.” -- Hillary Brown, Paste
“… compelling work of science fiction… Ordinarily, the living are haunted by ghosts. But in this story, ghosts are being haunted by the living. Clever.” -- Jeremy Sigler, The Comics Journal
“With his signature spare, thick line work on display, Shaw pursues his twin main interests-stressed families and sotto voce science fiction-in his most audacious color exercise since The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century (2010) and his most eventful book ever. ” -- Ray Olson, Booklist
96 page full color 6" x 8" Softcover
Fantagraphics, 2014
