Graphic Novel Review: Ashes: a comic by Álvaro Ortiz

Ashes: a comic by Álvaro Ortiz. Translation by Eva Ibarzabal. Adapted by Leigh Walton. Top Shelf, 2023. 9781603095174. 184pp.

I love the layout of this graphic novel. Each page is a grid of up to 20 small panels; they are sometimes combined into larger panels, but never subdivided. The panels are borderless, their edges soft and defined by color rather than lines. They float and morph as the story requires. This works well with Ortiz’s simple line drawings and the colors. Ortiz seems to know exactly what each panel must do. I just love looking at the pages of this book. (Ortiz’s art is fantastic, too. The way he uses colors and black lines to draw people and some details drew me in when I started reading this book. But I love the layout and how it’s used for storytelling more than anything.)

Every character has a two-page origin story, starting with Polly, who’s working at a cafe at the beginning of the book. And there are lots more pages that are asides like these, that don’t move the story forward but which fill in some gaps. Lots of them involve the history of cremation.

This is the story of Polly, Moho, and Piter. Their friend Héctor is dead, and his ashes are in a box. When Polly arrived at Héctor’s house she was given a map with an x on it; Héctor had told his parents the three of them would be scattering his ashes. And so they set off to do that, if they can find the place where they’re supposed to go. Héctor’s ghost is hanging around. And so are two brothers both named Smirnov who seem to think this is a crime story. (And it kinda is, but that’s not the most important thing about the story.). Oh and there’s also a very smart monkey named Andrés who plays a part, too.

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