Two Graves, Vol. 1 by Genevieve Valentine

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Take a gothic Americana road trip with Death in this beautifully drawn and gorgeously written graphic novel.

I love graphic novels and am trying to read and promote graphic novels written by women (because we're tough to find in this genre). So when I saw that this was written by Genevieve Valentine, and illustrated by Annie Wu and Ming Doyle, I immediately wanted to read it.

The book is promoted as a Persephone/Hades retelling, which it lightly is, but I think that's a bit of a marketing spin takes away from the subtly and uniqueness of this story itself. In this volume, Death steals Emilia (a mortal woman) who is grieving the death of her mother. We sit with them in the car and in motels as they venture across the United States towards the ocean. The world-building is soft, and there are a lot of questions that go unanswered as we follow along - but that only adds to the mystery of our characters.

This is a slow moving, deep thoughts, vibe book. While there is an outside force hunting our duo, we spend much more time witnessing their conversations (and silences) around death, love, and life. The artwork is immediately compelling and clues us into the character's emotional states without them needing to say, "I feel XXX".

My favourite part of this volume is the bonus backmatter at the end of each issue from prominent women authors writing in this genre including bestselling Broken Earth trilogy author N.K. Jemisin, Veronica Schanoes (Shirley Jackson Award winner, Nebula, and World Fantasy nominee), and Stephanie Lai (Best New Talent Ditmar Award, 2018). The piece by Sarah McCarry had me floored. It asks, then attempts to answer the question, "Where do stars go when they die?" It's absolute poetry. I am going to advocate for every graphic novel to include these short stories/meditations at the end of each issue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for this advanced reader copy.

This book is best read in the passenger seat of a car during a first date while driving to an abandoned cabin in the woods.