School Spirits by Anya Davidson / ISBN 9781939799029 / 152-page hardcover (no jacket as issued), published by PictureBox. Chicago-based artist and musician Anya Davidson (born 1983) is the author of numerous zines and mini-comics and was a member of the cult favorite band Coughs. School Spirits is her idiosyncratic and captivating debut full-length graphic novel. Described by the author as “Beavis and Butthead meets James Joyce’s Ulysses,” it is the story of Oola, a high school student with an unusual connection to the supernatural. Comprised of four chapters, each deploying a different narrative technique, School Spirits is at once funny, sexy, mystical and, above all, utterly readable. Davidson’s crisp cartooning style makes even the strangest occurrences somehow seem plausible. This publication is sure to appeal to Davidson’s existing extensive underground following, as well as to fans of the farther reaches of contemporary graphic fiction.
