Review: Girl in the Bay #2

Gwen Dylan Stacy

6 years ago

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this title other than being familiar with writer J. M. DeMatteis’s work from Spider-Man. Not that it helps, considering The Girl in the Bay is completely outside of something you’d read if you’re into that sort of superhero stuff. This title is some sort of interesting out of body experience come time travel piece that really left me with more questions about Kathy Sartori and what exactly is going on with her life. Unlife? Something.

The title is beautifully illustrated by Corin Howell with colors from James Devlin and letters by Clem Robins. I really enjoy the art here. Some of the characters’ faces, admittedly, sometimes fade into the scenery when action or other things come to focus so we lose a little bit of those softer, more human expressions but for the most part it’s very lovely. Especially when the supernatural bits of this writing come out to play. The main antagonist’s attached spirit manages to come across grottoes but still retaining bits of humanity, despite whatever devious thing that he’s making Hugh Lanskey do.

This issue centers mostly on the time displaced (or perhaps dead, we’ve yet to find out either way yet)Â Kathy Sartori and her fumbling her way through the future after meeting her other-self. Obviously, this shakes Kathy to her core. Enough that she runs out of her–er, Sartori’s house and into the night to indulge her lungs with fresh air and fill her stomach as a means to possibly deflecting from the situation that had just occurred. It’s during this venture out into a world five decades outside of the time period that she originates from that she discovers what may or may not be a skill she didn’t know about and stumbles upon the spirit of Winston Burton.

Well, ghost may be the wrong word to use here. He’s very clearly not quite a spirit as he has some tangibility, which only makes me question what exactly Kathy – at least the younger version here – might actually be. Not to mention how everything else ties itself together. What IÂ am interested in is knowing exactly what will become of Kathy considering the fact that she now knows the entirety of her life? Will she be a victim of predestination or can she change the course of her own history? How much has been changed from her simply existing in the present? Who is the mysterious being that Hugh seems to be aligned with?

I suppose I’ll find the answers in the next issue of this solid 3.5 out of 5 star read.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) J. M. DeMatteis (A/CA) Corin Howell