Mind the Gap: a paranormal thriller/mystery graphic novel that non-comic book readers will enjoy

Somebody tried to kill Elle Peterssen. She's comatose in the hospital. Her wealthy family doesn't seem to care much -- not her Korean tiger mom, not her emotionally vacant father, not her spoiled brother. They consider her hospitalization a major inconvenience. Elle's boyfriend, Dane, cares a lot but he's the prime suspect.

Elle, unconscious in a hospital bed, is somewhat aware of what's happening. Her disembodied, amnesiac mind inhabits a kind of spirit world with other coma patients. With the aid of a psychologist (also in a coma and in a hospital bed right next to her) and a British coma patient, Elle attempts to figure out who she is and how she ended up this way.

Meanwhile back on Earth, clues of a complicated plot concerning Elle reveal themselves in odd places -- in a hospital staff doctor who purges Elle's records, in hoodie-wearing nogoodniks skulking in doorways and whispering urgently in their cellphones about contingency plans, in office explosions, and in double-crosses.

Mind the Gap: Intimate Strangers collects the first five issues of Jim McCain (writer) and Rodin Esquejo's (artist) Hitchcock-esque comic book series of the same name. The art is superb and the story is a masterfully-paced, intriguing thriller.

Warning: this is an ongoing series so when you get to the end of this graphic novel, you'll want to find out what happens next. Fortunately Mind the Gap #6 is out. I'm going to wait for Volume 2 of the anthology series, myself.

Mind the Gap: Intimate Strangers

• [Teirhan]

  you know, if art nouveau replaced all other art, i’d be a pretty happy camper.

  • [Jake Rennie]

    Mucha’s style and graphic novels are pretty much a perfect fit.

  • [Rich Keller]

    Try A Distant Soil, by Colleen Doran for more art nouveau inspired graphic novels. The architecture in the sci-fi world seems to be really inspired by Mucha.

    I’m trying to bring more Art Nouveau, Jugendstil and Secessionism into the Steampunk stuff I do. I have this Georg Jensen inspired banana carrier that you should just look at.

• [Bloo]

  Looks interesting; however I do have a question:  is there a subset of graphic novels which are well done and work well on a grey-and-white e-ink reader (Kindle or equivalent)?  The latest Kindle publishing tools, for example have features especially designed for comics – but I don’t know where to go for new release pointers, reviews, etc.

  • [Sept]

    Best option of reading comics probably isn’t a kindle, but an iPad, Nexus or any other tablet actually. 

    • [Bloo]

       Yes, a tablet with a color screen is the best option for experiencing color comics digitally;  no real argument there.

      I’m just trying to ask the Boing-Boing hive mind whether there in fact is a greyscale subset for e-ink.