The Great Divide

Fisher and Markiewicz make their graphic novel debut with a jokey, blood-and-guts new addition to the postapocalyptic genre. Human society has collapsed after the appearance of a strange disease that causes people’s heads to erupt after somebody touches them, after which their ghosts take up residence in the head of the person who killed them. After the briefest of prologues, readers are plunged into the depths of the rubble-strewn aftermath. Terminally sarcastic loner Paul hooks up with cutthroat scavenger Maria after accidentally killing her brother, Carlos, who was infected. Carlos’s ghost attaches itself inside Paul’s head, which is the only thing that keeps trigger-happy Maria from murdering Paul on their odyssey to locate a safe refuge. Markiewicz’s art is crisp and detailed; Fisher’s deadpan writing allows an almost gleeful and near-continuous bloodletting. Indeed, the potentially promising facets of the world are too often discarded in favor of more mayhem. (Aug.)