Tag Archives: naomi sacks

A Haunted Girl explores real world mental health topics through a horror lens in May

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Co-writers and father-daughter team Ethan Sacks and Naomi Sacks join forces with fan-favorite artist Marco Lorenzana for a YA graphic novel that explores real-world mental health struggles through a fantastical lens in the upcoming, A Haunted Girl. It will hit shelves this May from Image Comics.

The graphic novel will also contain an AFSP guide to suicide prevention resources, as well as a guide from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) on free therapy access options. Both organizations contributed sensitivity reading to ensure the depictions of mental health were authentic.

In A Haunted Girl, readers meet Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life. What she doesn’t know is that her real struggles are just beginning as she finds herself encountering an increasingly terrifying succession of ghosts. Is she losing her grip on reality… or is the explanation much, much worse? A Haunted Girl channels terrors—both otherworldly and real-life—that come with anxiety and depression.

A Haunted Girl (ISBN: 978-1534397774) will be in 6×9 paperback format and available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, May 22 and independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Indigo on Tuesday, May 21.

A Haunted Girl

Preview: A Haunted Girl #1

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A Haunted Girl #1

(W) Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks (A) Marco Lorenzano
(CA) Joe Quesada (CB) Fico Ossio, Andres Mossa (L) Jamie Martinez

Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life. What she doesn’t know is that her struggles are just beginning as she finds herself encountering an increasingly terrifying succession of ghosts. Is she losing her grip on reality… or is the explanation much, much worse?

A Haunted Girl #1

A Haunted Girl is grounded in a real life struggle with depression

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Coming this fall from Image Comics’ imprint, Syzygy Publishing, is a gripping new four-issue horror series, A Haunted Girl. Co-written by the father-daughter team of Ethan Sacks and Naomi Sacks, with art by Marco Lorenzana, this paranormal thriller channels terrors both otherworldly as well as the real-life terror that comes with struggles of anxiety and depression. 

Cleo, a 16-year-old adopted Japanese-American whose anxiety and depression drives her to suicidal thoughts, is fresh out of the hospital and trying unsuccessfully to reintegrate back into her old life. What she doesn’t know is that her struggles are just beginning as she finds herself encountering an increasingly terrifying succession of ghosts. Is she losing her grip on reality… or is the explanation much, much worse?

The story was developed four years ago while Ethan’s daughter was hospitalized. He is now able to write the series with Naomi who describes it as “very personal” and sees Cleo as going through “a lot of the same struggles” she did.

Cover A by acclaimed creator Joe Quesada and colorist Richard Isanove, with variants by Fico Ossio, Ryusei Yamada, and a logoless, black and white variant by Joe Quesada.

An inspiration to those battling their own demons, A Haunted Girl #1 hits stores October 11.

A Haunted Girl #1