Review: _Ghostopolis_

I had never heard of graphic novelist Doug TenNapel until I received a review copy of Scholastic's 2010 release Ghostopolis. I'm glad I know of him now. While Ghostopolis is not a complex or overly nuanced text, it has enough symbolism and raises enough philosophical issues about living and dying that many young readers should be able to enjoy this journey into an after-life. It also has tons of action and a quick pace, despite its girthy 266 pages, for those who aren't as philosophically inclined.

The story revolves around Garth, a dying child inadvertently zapped into the realm of the dead by a loser ghost catcher, Frank Gallows. Garth is a sort of "chosen one" figure in his new surroundings, and Frank finds love and redemption in his attempts to rescue the boy even as Garth finds courage to live -- once an evil dictator is demolished and everything works out for all the good guys.

As a narrative, information is revealed in a contemporary manga tradition that I find bothersome: as it goes, only when absolutely needed, and without very much build. It often reads like a web comics written in installments or like storyboards for a movie or cartoon series rather than a full-on, self-contained graphic novel. But, this technique is one that permeates certain types of comics and cartoons and should be familiar to younger readers who seem to enjoy a "children's play" pathos.

TenNapel's thin ink line works for the narrative, and the coloring from Katherine Garner and Tom Rhodes is superbly matched to the story. An interesting, pre-adolescent meditation on fantasy and mortality, Ghostopolis caters to the young reader's sense of contemporary storytelling and offers that little bit more for those who are ready to see it.