Light Carries on -- Ray Nadine, Hardcover

When Leon's camera unexpectedly breaks, he is forced to borrow a used one from his mom's antique store. As he snaps the first picture, the ghost of the camera's former owner is released and the two are inexplicably linked.

After taking Leon's body for an accidental joy ride, the ghost introduces himself as Cody, a queer punk rocker who died decades ago. Of course, he doesn't remember how he wound up dead but the two decide investigating might be the only way to end the haunting.

Leon has been reeling from a recent break-up with his boyfriend, recovering from his time in the military, and trying to become a photographer who can afford to take pictures of something more than high school proms and weddings. So being the only one able to see and talk to a ghost that died before cellphones, Wikipedia, or iTunes seems like a great way to fill his ample free time. The two get closer as they travel around Chicago showing each other the landmarks of their pasts and trying to unearth the secrets around Cody's mysterious death. They discover they have much more in common than expected as they explore the complexities of life, love, and afterdeath, taking breaks to jam out to tunes, hang out in planetariums, and slurp down tasty frozen beverages.

Cartoonist Ray Nadine (Station Six, Raise Hell, Messenger) has created an unmissable graphic novel that balances out themes of trauma, grief, and toxic relationships with radical empathy, queer joy, and healing.

Author: Ray Nadine
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Published: 05/16/2023
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.13h x 6.06w x 0.94d
ISBN: 9781506726373

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/03/2023

About the Author
Ray Nadine was born and raised in central Illinois, and was drawing as soon as they could hold a pencil. They knew from a young age that they wanted to tell stories, and after years of growing up on manga and webcomics, they pursued an art education at Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. After graduation, they launched their ongoing webcomic, Dollhouse, in January 2013 and have been publishing two pages a week until Summer 2017. In fall of 2017, they quit their day job to be a full-time freelance comic artist working on Messenger with Paul Tobin, published by Webtoon. They've been in a handful of anthologies, including EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG, edited by Mark Bouchard, and Local Haunts, edited by Kara Lais. Ray is also the artist for Raise Hell!, written by Jordan Alsaqa. Ray has made a bunch of mini-comics and zines over the years too.