The Grave Robber's Daughter

When Judy Drood's car breaks down outside of Obadiah's Glen, the foul-mouthed Nancy Drew stand-in wanders into town for assistance and gets caught up in a bizarre hallucination brought to life. The town appears deserted save for a group of teenagers gathered inside an old house, an eerie little girl named Nellie Kelley and a small army of ever-grinning, sinister clowns. The answers to the many questions raised by this queer scenario unfolds at a brisk pace, revelations punctuated with fisticuffs, a tentacled sideshow mutant, ghoulish shenanigans in an accursed graveyard and a most unusual potion housed in the bottles of a dank wine cellar. Sala's David Lynchian world possesses the feel of a spooky mystery tale, but his illustrative style echoes a retro children's book, and the visual style adds a friendly yet disturbing quality to the proceedings. Sala (Evil Eye ) has always offered something different, and this piece leaves the reader eager for the further exploits of Judy Drood in a world so similar to our own, but with one toe over the line into the Twilight Zone. (Feb.)