Royal City by Jeff Lemire

A family of five, a beaten town, and the ghost they can’t forget. The father’s stroke brings the Pike family back together. The brother whose marriage is breaking apart while trying to write his third novel. The sister trying to convince the owner of the rundown factory to redevelop the land into a golf course and condos. The youngest brother is stuck on a barstool and can’t seem to get out of his own way. Each family member caught in the awkward limbo with life and their dead brother Tommy.

I’ve read several of Lemire’s works and this one has the emotional depth that the others rely on. His art style is here as is the dreamlike quality of many of the cut scenes between reality and the past or the drunken memories. The emotional conflicts are wrought with pain and a rough kind of headache.

A scarred family trying desperately to see the good in each other.