Red Light Properties

Combining Poltergeist with TV’s House Hunters and featuring a perfect satirical depiction of life in Miami, Goldman’s latest subverts the typical slick trappings of the supernatural genre in comics. At first glance, Jude Tobin is an unimpressive man, but he has a special gift. Not only can he see the dead, but he can enter their plane and help them move on to the next one. Jude and his wife Cecilia have built an entire real estate business (from which the book takes its name) around his ability. South Florida has an unusual number of haunted dwellings that landlords have a great difficulty renting out, and Red Light Properties cleans out these spaces and puts them on the market again. The book also describes the marriage woes of Jude and Cecilia, as they make a major deal that just might put their business over the top—if Jude can keep up the stamina he needs for the draining work of ghost busting as his relationship with Cecilia disintegrates. Goldman’s story unfolds with heart and humor, as well as with unexpected horror twists, and he employs an unusual artistic process that mixes cartooning, photography, collage, and digital art, enhancing the otherworldliness of the ghosts and the hyperreality of Miami. (Feb.)