Spectregraph

In this flashy phantasmagoria, Eisner winners Tynion (the Nice House on the Lake series) and Ward (Batman: City of Madness) spin an offbeat ghost story with hints of science fiction and visual style to spare. Janie, a frazzled real estate agent in Malibu, just wants to show an old house to a buyer and get home to the toddler she accidentally left unattended. Instead, she finds herself trapped in the labyrinthine mansion--which is filled with clockwork mechanisms and occult devices--along with Vesper, a young woman from a cult called the Thanatos Group, who believes in the house's purported power to create ghosts. In fact, Vesper dreams of becoming a ghost herself: "I want to be the thing that people are afraid of," she tells Janie. As they search for a way out, the women are pursued by the grotesque entities haunting the estate. Ward's lavish art turns the horror story into a gothic spectacle drenched in dazzling colors, eerie patterns and symbols, and electric flashes of light. The ghosts themselves, warped assemblages of body parts, are effectively unsettling. Though the script sometimes loses focus, the two central characters are fleshed out well enough that their struggle to escape feels vital. Indie horror fans will feel right at home. (Feb.)