Infidel by Pornsak Pichetshote, Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia and Jeff Powell

A 21st century haunted house in the heart of NYC. I don’t want to get into too many specifics, so I’m going to make this review a bullet-pointed one.

• After a terrorist bombing, a building is possessed by evil spirits who haunt the residents… They stayed on in their apartments for many reasons, to show strength in the face of evil or quite simply because of a cheaper rent. 
• A diverse cast of characters. A mixed family, by race and religion. A Muslin-American woman who finds herself haunted by the xenophobic poltergeist.
• Key Quote: ‘Racism’s a cancer that never gets cured. The best you can get is remission.’
• A plot focusing on the themes of loss, racism, and Islamophobia.
• Two questions drive the tension: Where did this spirit come from and how are they going to get rid of it?

Wow! This graphic novel blew me away. From the vivid drawings to the penetrating dialogue, Infidel is a searing piece that deserves all the praise it has garnered. The collected issues are accompanied by an introduction by Tanannarive Due discussing representation in horror, and an afterword by Jeff Lemire on the difficulties of presenting the genre in graphic novels. These two short essays enhance the reading experience by helping to explain the graphic novel’s many layers.

I flew through this title and I think you will too.

Highly recommended!