The Girl in the Bay

This existential, trippy, but ultimately forgettable series by DeMatteis (Moonshadow) aches to be as great as the questions it raises. Living carefree in 1969, 17-year-old Kathy Sartori fancies herself the “Brooklyn-born Siddhartha,” embracing psychedelic drugs and the power of rock ‘n’ roll. But when she meets Hugh Lansky one night, she gets an unexpected surprise as her new friend stabs her and leaves her to drown. Miraculously, Kathy survives, but when she resurfaces from the water, she realizes that 50 years have passed, and that a doppelgänger has been living out her life in the interim. Kathy is forced to confront the future would-be version of herself to unlock her missing years, and must also face the man who tried to murder her decades ago—and the vile entity that inhabits his psychotic mind. The script begs readers to ponder concepts of time and self, but the narrative moves quickly and is easily sidetracked. Similarly, the art, though dynamic and colorful, plays it too safe for the psychedelic story line. Ambitious in concept but falling short in execution, the four-issue volume will strike even DeMatteis’s fans as a rushed effort. (Sept.)