CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/31/2013

Golden Age Sci-Fi Meets Pioneer Punk in Anya Davidson's 'School Spirits'

Featured image is reproduced from School Spirits, PictureBox's new graphic novel by Chicago-based artist and musician Anya Davidson. Publisher's Weekly gives the book a glowing review: "Davidson is known for her underground zines and minicomics; her first full-length graphic novel continues in this vein of surreal, pulp-inspired, absurdist adventures… Yet for all this, Davidson’s graphic novel is eminently readable; it presents a story that allows the author to give full range to her imagination. Her drawings defy straightforward categorization, sometimes feeling like the artwork of golden age science fiction comics and sometimes in the tradition of punk pioneer Gary Panter or raunchmeister Johnny Ryan. Davidson uses a different style for each of the four chapters, including long wordless sequences. Unconventional as it all is, Davidson’s narrative invention and visual imagination never waver. In terms of its storytelling and as a work of art, School Spirits is an inspired debut effort."