A Guide for Ghosts
An Original Graphic Novel by Nicholas Aaron Hodge
The Guide began, like many of my ideas do, as a short story. Originally, the story had a broad perspective, following a nameless protagonist as they experience the process of dying and ultimately coming to terms with what it means to be a Ghost. Which, looking back, I think captured something of the essence of the themes I was attempting to articulate, but not quite. So, when I set about writing this graphic novel, I knew that I needed to find a way to make the story feel more personal. As I struggled to draw on something familiar, something earnest and true, I ultimately settled on a terrifying new prospect… representing myself.
The narrative of A Guide for Ghosts takes the reader on a winding journey through various representations of the afterlife; some simply imagined, some, a crude amalgamation of many traditions, and some sourced directly from a particular mythology. I wanted to tell a story about death and dying that felt universal and encompassing of the concept while also attempting something uniquely singular. Foremost, I wanted to play within the universe of and with the symbiology often represented in death such as gods, ghosts, spirits, cloud landscapes, vast fields, empty train stations, tunnels of light, etc. It is my sincere hope that in reading, you resonate with some part of this elusive world, that we mortal souls haplessly attempt to define.
This is a story about what it means to be lost, to be lonely, to feel abandoned as all Ghosts must feel. It is a story about my fears for the future- of what happens if humanity goes too far. It is also a story about my undying love for and influence of my own Mother. This is a story of Love and Hope surviving when it feels all but impossible.
This is a Guide, I hope against hope, for the living as much as it is for the dead…
Please join me in making this publication, this lifelong dream of mine to be a storyteller, a reality.
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