A series full of intriguing and complex stories and characters
Book Information
Book CWs: For a list of content/trigger warnings, tropes, and representation found in this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com!
Blurb:
‘Death is a lot of damned work’, thinks 18 year old ghost, Charlotte Williams, as she braves the unsettled world of the In-Between. It’s here the rebellious teen finds the clues she so desperately needs in her battle against diabolic, secret society, The Hollow (who took her life, and just happen to be trying to end the world!). With wise-cracking, goth ghost, Poe at her side, the duo work to decipher the latest clues to thwart the evil sect at every turn. However, things get hairy when The Hollow kidnap Charlotte’s young son, Luke in retaliation. A devastated Charlotte then suffers with the guilt of screwing up his young life ‘even in death’, before forming a plan with Poe to get him back – and make The Hollow pay.
Purchase Volume 1 (affiliate link): Amazon
Check out the graphic to learn more about how you can win a copy of the short film that this graphic novel is based on!
About the Author
Emmy® Award Winner, Richard T. Wilson serves as the President /Writer-Filmmaker of RTW Productions, Inc., home to nationally recognized educational film company, OutreachArts, Inc. and its award-winning, sister company, Mad Shelley Films/Comics (‘Under the Flowers’, ‘The Halloween Girl’ film & graphic novel series). To date, he has had over 70 of his plays and films produced and seen some this same work featured on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio, PBS and The Independent Film Channel. However, Wilson is probably best known for creating both the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning TV/DVD series, ‘Maple Ave’ and the hit, supernatural web series, ‘Under the Flowers’.
Review (No Spoilers)
Hello all! If you’ve been following my blog for a bit, you might have seen my previous review for volumes 1 and 2 of Halloween Girl that I posted back in July. I recently was gifted book one of Halloween Girl that includes volumes 1-7, so I’ll be giving my honest review of that collection here.
Before I get started, I want to preface this review by mentioning again that this book is based off of a series of short films that you can watch online for free. I don’t think it’s 100% necessary to do so (you can generally guess who the characters are without needing the full backstory), and I personally found the video shorts very confusing to understand, but here is the link to find them if you’d like to check them out.
The basic premise of Halloween Girl follows a ghost named Charlotte, who died when she was young, shortly after giving birth to her son, Luke. Since her death, she has developed a few supernatural powers in the afterlife that include the ability to take on human form when necessary. With the help of her ghost-friend Poe and an organization known as “The Resistance”, Charlotte is on a mission to stop an evil society known as “The Hollow” from taking over the world (and killing a lot of people along the way).
Overall, Halloween Girl has a very intriguing premise that will vibe with fans of dark fantasy and horror. In book one, readers are introduced to several fascinating characters whose stories range from being innocent bystanders, to vigilante ghost warriors, to servants of the Devil himself. I thought this first installment did a great job with introducing people to the story while also providing us with an ending that felt both closed and open at the same time. The main plot came to a conclusion, but it is clear that these characters’ stories are far from over. Personally, I’d recommend reading this with a buddy or a group because sometimes the plot can get a bit hard to follow and I think those little pockets of confusion could make for great discussion material.
Another thing that I do feel the need to mention is the fact that the graphic artist (as this is a graphic novel) often changes between volumes. I’ve never seen this happen before—and I’m still not sure why it did—so I was very confused as to why the art kept changing until I realized that the artists themselves were changing as well. I was a fan of literally all of the art styles, though, so I surprisingly wasn’t actually bothered by the shifts. I’ve put a gallery of page excerpts below so that you can have a little sneak peak of what I mean. Each picture is a different artist.
If you’re looking for a new graphic novel series to satisfy your spooky needs, definitely give Halloween Girl a browse! And if you’re a book reviewer interested in connecting with Richard and his team, you can find them at @MadShelleyFilms on Twitter. Whenever I’ve received one of these volumes, it’s always come with a nice personalized letter from Richard. He and his publishing crew have honestly been a huge pleasure to work with.
Disclaimer: Most posts made on this blog will include affiliate links, identified by the phrase (affiliate link). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no additional cost to you.
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