Amigo Comics 2018
Written by Desiree Bressend
Illustrated by Ruben Gil
Lettered by Malaka Studio
The sequel to the acclaimed graphic novel! Portia, an American student overwhelmed by her life, prepares to commit suicide in Japan's notorious "suicide forest" of Aokigahara. The living and dead who make this forest their home will begin a struggle not only for Portia's life... but also for her soul!
This is a wonderful start to the story. One of the things that Amigo does which impresses me constantly is that they seem to be able to put out these stories that have an almost cinematic quality to them. Desiree is able to bring us this whole idea behind the story and tell it like it’s this beautifully horrific lullaby that sings off the page. The opening which seems to show us a then and now aspect of Portia’s life where I cannot tell if she’s in America in one section and Japan in the other. Granted she’s into Sailor Moon and hangs out with others who like to dress up, she grew with the standard bullying most of us have gone through.
Then the story moves to Ryoko and her experiences and what she was taught growing up. The truth about spirits and the forest itself. We see her at two different stages of her life and both seem to be introductions, one her first time in the forest the other learning to defend herself against them. Before we get to the present in the proceedings.
I like the way the book is structured and how it flows through the pages. From the introduction and right into the heart of the story how things are presented, introduced and capture our minds, interest and intrigue us are extremely well done. The fact that Desiree is able to write this in such a way that she’s not only showing us the main characters, their situations and how life is for them to be able to show how intricately their lives are woven together is pretty amazing. You almost feel the connection being done long before they meet and that has a quality to it you just don’t find often any more.
I have to say I really like Ruben’s style of illustrating. The linework at first may seem a bit busy with all the sketchy quality lines going on but the mood and tone they present is creepy and pretty darn effective. His use of page layouts so we can see the angles and perspective in the panels shows he has a strong eye for storytelling. The attention to detail he brings is superb and then that he pays attention and doesn’t skimp on the backgrounds just continues to bring this to life in ways you don’t expect. The use of colour so that one alone stands brightly is a wow factor here.
The Suicide Forest, or Aokigahara, is a real place in Japan steeped in legend and the place where they go to die. As suicide is a sin this place is refuge to the lost souls who have no other place to go. So by reputation alone and ones imagination this place already conjures up images in the minds eye and that increases how we react to the story. Anytime something is based on something real it tends to help the reader focus on the story and feel they are more a part of it. I’m loving what and how Desiree is incorporating all that so well into this.
The flow here is stupendous and that we have the eerie feeling from the get go and we get to see what Portia does is fantastic and that Ryoko knows what she is going through well it’s all got this connectivity to it that brings that creep factor to the maximum level. This is better than telling ghost stories out in the woods in the dead of night.