A Haunted Girl

Cleo is 16, adopted, and Japanese-American. She has just left the hospital after anxiety and depression pushed her into suicidal thoughts, and she is trying, without much success, to slot back into her old life. School, home and friends no longer fit the way they did.

Then the ghosts start to appear, one after another, each more frightening than the last. Cleo cannot tell whether her mind is slipping or whether something far worse is happening. The stakes are stated plainly: the fate of all life on Earth rests on a girl who is not sure she wants to live.

A Haunted Girl is a horror comic and a paranormal thriller. It uses the supernatural as a stand-in for the real fear that comes with anxiety and depression, and it keeps its protagonist's inner struggle at the center of the mystery. The mood is dark and unsettling, with a story that treats suicidal ideation seriously rather than as a plot device.

It is written by Ethan Sacks and his daughter Naomi Sacks, with art by Marco Lorenzana. The creators aim for a scary story that also speaks to readers fighting their own, less literal, demons.