In this spooky collection for our Fresh Friday Features, we explore the enigmatic world of ghosts and the paranormal, as each comic takes you on a haunting journey through spectral encounters and spine-chilling mysteries. From spine-tingling ghost stories to investigations of the unknown, these comics will capture your imagination and keep you on the edge of your seat, exploring the realms where the living and the dead intertwine.
This week, ArtCrumbs picked four titles that'll give you a peak into the ordinary lives that maybe aren't so ordinary anymore!
- Comic - Tenea: A young girl from the Horned Gophers tribe who fights against dark forces
- Graphic Novel - Netherrelams: Nergui finds herself in the Netherrealms - a world containing dreams time, and even our death.
- Manga - Grand Aura: Zyan lives with his adopted father on a private island with the goal of wanting to be a bounty hunter and competing in the Grand Aura Championship.
- Webcomic - Haint: Nakia, host of the popular supernatural podcast "Ghost Club", but a ghost from the past makes themselves known. Who is "Emery"?
Tenea, 38 pages - Published by WzSchool, (cc/ @Wzschool)
A comic telling the story of a young girl from the Horned Gophers tribe who fights against dark forces to protect her people and preserve peace.
Story and Art by Ivan Buhancov, Misagi, Nikita Baturin
Comments from @ArtCrumbs: Never underestimate a little girl with a big mission.
Tenya has powers and nobody believes her. It's a situation a lot of people can relate to, having something special to share with nobody giving you the chance. The art for this is black heavy, but flatted very well so that the contrast still works great. I also loved the textures added to the flats to give it a little something extra. I always love a good paranormal story, and this satiates that.
One of the small things that I noticed, and appreciated was the cost to Tenya to use her powers. Often we see characters with plot armour and get away with insane things no ordinary human can, but Tenya suffers as she uses her powers. I like seeing things come at a true cost. I didn't expect the ending that happened, but after looking back, it makes perfect sense for Tenya! She's such a gentle spirit.
Between the great art and the adorable yet strong main character, I definitely wanted to share this. Great job team!
Netherrealms, 21 pages - Published by Rengin Tümer, (cc/ @Rengin)
During a time when a mysterious illness puts people in an endless sleep, a young woman named Nergui finds herself in the Netherrealms - a world containing dreams time, and even our death. Will Nergui find it in her to save our world, the Netherrealms, and herself?
Story and Art by Rengin Tümer
Comments from @ArtCrumbs: We all have an expiration date, but it what if you could change it?
I was interested on this just from the cover alone! I initially only wanted to browse and read a few pages, but read everything uploaded in one sitting! It was instantly captivating to me! The first few pages were a great hook.
I loved the small nuances of the characters, seeing small personality quirks in each of them. The dialogue was natural, and you could really feel each character's voice was unique, something I struggle with in my own writing. It's nice to see a great example of this! The art was clean, yet it felt full and not stiff. Organic brushy lineart, and cel-shaded characters mixed with painted backgrounds felt like an anime or cartoon, which was somewhat nostalgic in a satisfying way.
I am insanely curious to see where this goes as I don't believe we have met this mysterious Nergui yet. I can't wait for more!
Grand Aura, 48 pages - Published by PurpleDurple, (cc/ @PurpleDurple)
Zyan lives with his adopted father on a private island with the goal of wanting to be a bounty hunter and competing in the Grand Aura Championship, which happens once every 5 years. At the same time, even though he has purple aura, he doesn't have any wind powers. After finding the truth and new allies, they go compete for the prize of a ton of money. At the same time, there is a cult wanting to change the world asking Zyan to join them as he has something others don't which can be used to better humanity.
Story and Art by Airdan
Comments from @ArtCrumbs: Can you feel the power of that aura?!
Incomplete powers suck, but Zyan has the energy to take on the world, literally! I love this main character. So energetic, as misguided as it appears to be sometimes. The energy from this manga is reminiscent of lots of modern shounen I like to read, so that was definitely nailed perfectly.
The art is also fantastic, extremely consistent with the character design, battle choreography, dynamic panels and inkwork. It's got everything that I can think a good manga needs. I read all of what was uploaded, and couldn't just stop at the end of the first chapter. I love the aura power system, and I'm curious to see what other characters will bring to the table.
I can't wait for more!
HAINT, 30 pages - Published by Art by Q-Bii, (cc/ @qbii)
Nakia, host of the popular supernatural podcast "Ghost Club", is super hyped to kick off the show's 100th episode! But, when it airs, a ghost from the past makes themselves known. Who is Emery and why do they seem so fixated on Nakia's guest, Lydia?
Story and Art by Art by Q-Bii
Comments from @ArtCrumbs: She's living one of my dreams: A Cryptid podcast!
Fascinating concept for a story! One of my favorite radio shows is exactly this, and so seeing a comic about a very similar situation was instantly something I wanted to read. I'll admit I didn't know 'Haint' was a real word, but apparently it is! I love it when I can learn something new, I grew up in the West and Midwest, so this word was unfamiliar to me
Noun. haint (plural haints) (US, dialectal) A ghost; a supernatural being; Alternative form of haunt.
The story follows a podcaster who talks about the supernatural, ghosts, and Cryptids. After having a guest, weird and unusual comments appear on their video, and that's all I've read so far. I too would love to know who 'Emery' is!
I think one of my favorite things about this was the paneling when explaining concepts. There were quite a few pages that were "splash" in nature with no panels and lots of small spot illustrations to break the page up into smaller parts. Notably when explaining what her podcast was about, and when her guest Lydia was talking about spirits. Absolutely stunning pages! I'd love to see more of those. The art for this, and it's extremely diverse cast, really speaks to the care Q-Bii is putting into this.
Add this to your weekend reading list! It's gonna only get better from here, I can tell! Keep it up, Q-Bii, you've got a new Fan-Tom in me!
That's all for now, but we'll have another set of Fresh Friday reading recommendations next week. If you're looking for more recommendations, make sure to opt-in for our weekly reading list email! You can find that in your User Profile Notification settings. You can also browse through our Featured Comics news section!
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