Cast No Shadow by Nick Tapalansky (review)

In this graphic novel, rising sophomore Greg goes with his friend Layla to check out the abandoned house on the edge of town. The house turns out to be haunted by a charming, lovely teenaged ghost named Eleanor, with whom Greg is immediately smitten (Greg is at ease with the far-fetched, since he hasn't had a shadow since birth). As he falls more deeply for Eleanor and becomes more resentful of his home life (his father's new girlfriend has moved in), his temper reaches a breaking point and suddenly out comes his shadow, in all its inky darkness and id psychology, to wreak havoc on Greg's life. Tapalansky slyly calls out tired scary-story tropes with the history of Eleanor's home, which involves a horrific murder plus multiple layers of war and supernatural history, each a cliché in its own right. The panels vary effectively with the text's pacing, and Espinosa is particularly good at conveying the mood changes of her characters facially with just a quick quirk of the eyebrow or a slight upturn of the mouth. Softly curved, ethereal Eleanor and the sharply lined, looming shadow make excellent supernatural foils. Falling somewhere between the of mischief of Telgemeier's Ghosts (BCCB 7/16) and the dark angst of Brosgol's Anya's Ghost (BCCB 6/11), this will satisfy tween fans of graphic novel spirits. KQG