Things aren’t right in The Spill Zone…

Spill Zone, by Scott Westerfeld/Alex Puvilland, (May 2017, First Second), $22.99, ISBN: 9781596439368

Recommended for ages 12+

Something happened three years ago in the upstate New York city of Poughkeepsie. Now known as The Spill Zone, it’s forbidden to enter – things are different there now. There’s danger in the Spill Zone; things that just shouldn’t be. Addison and Lexa are sisters who lost their parents that night. Lexa, the younger sister, hasn’t spoken since, preferring instead to quietly communicate with her doll. Is that conversation in her head? Who knows? Addison provides for herself and her sister by sneaking into the Spill Zone at night to take photos of the bizarre images in the Zone, often risking personal safety to get the most disturbing shots. Collectors offer big money for these shots, but one collector in particular gets in touch with Addison and offers her a deal she can’t possibly turn down: a million dollars, but she has to go into the Zone hospital where her parents died.

This is the first volume of Westerfield and Puvilland’s Spill Zone, and I’m already waiting for volume 2. Puvilland’s art is edgy and creepy; his Spill Zone is haunting and jolting. Westerfeld’s writing translates beautifully to a graphic novel format; he gives us a tense, disturbing post-cataclysmic setting for his story of survival. A definite add to science fiction collections.