In The Girl in the Bay, Kathy Sartori wakes up after a traumatic experience to find that many years have passed, seemingly in the blink of an eye. The world around her has changed drastically, while she remains the same. It’s a story that’s been done many times before, from Rip Van Winkle to Flight of the Navigator. But it’s never been done like this. For one thing, the story and the supernatural elements have strong ties to the teachings of Buddhism, which gives the comic a bit of a different flavor than is typical in Western comics.

In the first issue, Kathy was murdered in 1969 and fell into the bay, only to reemerge 50 years later in 2019. At the beginning of this issue, Kathy’s older self, who has lived the last 50 years in her place, is murdered by the same man, on the orders of some evil spirit, whether real or imagined. Kathy isn’t entirely sure if her older self was even real, or an evil spirit in her own right—but there is grief and sorrow all the same.

Fortunately, there are good spirits, too, and they seem to be looking out for Kathy. One of them is Winston Burton, a rock legend who also died a few years ago and now haunts the New York apartment building where he used to live. Perhaps he and Kathy can help each other out.

I’m really enjoying this comic. The story is fascinating and a bit unusual in all the right ways. It’s very well written in a way that keeps the reader on their toes and makes it difficult to expect what’s going to happen next. The artwork is great, too, giving us vivid depictions of evil spirits, Buddhist deities, and a whole world that’s mostly familiar, but just this side of fantastical. I highly recommend this comic.

Creative Team: J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Corin Howell (artist), James Devlin (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer)
Publisher: Dark Horse
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