The Case of the Girl from Déjà vu (The Nightmare Brigade #1)

In this episodic graphic novel, 14-year-old Esteban has lived with amnesia since former government employee Professor Albert Angus and his son Tristan found him in the forest three years prior. Now calling themselves the Nightmare Brigade, the youths enter Professor Angus’s patients’ nightmares so they can identify and resolve the underlying trauma creating them. In the first episode, an exciting adventure turns dangerous as the two become stuck in a new patient’s chilling dreams, where adults with guns are capturing kids. In the second, another patient, who has Tristan’s mother trapped in his mind, escapes into a new patient’s nightmares. Interspersed flashbacks further contextualize Professor Angus’s work; school scenes involving Tristan, who uses a wheelchair except when visiting nightmares, hint at his frustrated relationship with his disability. Artist Dumont employs delicate linework to create an unsettling vibe and stylized, macabre character designs; primary characters are pale-skinned, and some secondary characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 7–12. (Feb.)