Tabella releases ‘Ghost’

By John Freeman on March 15, 2010

Ghost Volume 1, the work of husband and wife team Phoebe Reeves-Murray and Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray – the latter described by one reviewer as “the new Alex Ross” – will be published soon by British publisher Tabella Publishing.

Ghost follows the life of Jennifer Rhys, a troubled young woman who, from birth, has been tortured by visions of demonic angels, only to discover that she is an angel, not only an angel, but a Ghost, the last of the Heavenly Protectors of mankind in the great war to reclaim heaven.

Author Reeves-Murray mixes urban mythology, action, angelic lore and betrayal against a backdrop of a world being manipulated by evil to steal it away from the creator, while illustrator Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray brings the story to life with full page paintings.

Daniel has been a police officer for 19 years while at the same time working as an illustrator. The break came when he showed his portfolio to an editor at DC Comics during a convention, and from that point he’s slowly built a following and a reputation for creating images that are driven by light, passion and character.

Phoebe Reeves-Murray has been a teacher of non-traditional, at-risk – typically homeless and/or adjudicated high school and college age youth and adults as well as children in HeadStart for the last 20 years; creating “thinking and learning outside of the box” activities and curriculum for students, teachers, and faculty across the US. Most recently, Phoebe has created a pathways to college program for low level literacy and math youth living in New Orleans who are concurrently working on completing their secondary education and becoming employed in a first job.

“The story came from a set of characters and basic storyline I’ve had for a long time, and my wife, who is a writer, said, ‘Let me do it,'” Murray says of the book’s origins. “So she wrote the story, and I drew the illustrations.”

“It’s a graphic novel form — not a paperback, not a hardcover,” he adds. “It’s a hybrid of the two. It’s the size of a standard comic book, but it’s high-quality paper and high-quality illustrations.”

“It’s intense stuff,” says reviewer Lisa DuMond of the book. And it requires the reader’s full attention. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and beautifully done – those are reasons enough to pick up a copy as soon as possible.”

“I think its a book whose time has come,” feels Reeves-Murray. “It’s an unusual offering in the graphic novel arena because this is a illustrated novel. It’s taking an old form of fairy tale books.

“I wanted to create a story like that with our heroine being a woman who doesn’t want to be a heroine. She’s had terrible family tragedy caught between a war of demonic angels and heavenly angels. And her baby becomes the focus of the war.”

• Read an interview with Phoebe Reeves-Murray and Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray on the Ghost web site

Ghost – Volume 1
Author Phoebe Reeves Murray (Scorpius Digital, Prima Publishing)
Illustrated by Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray (DC Comics, LucasFilm)
ISBN 978-0-9558088-6-9 • 160 pages, 244 x 172mm
£9.99 UK / $19.95 US • Available March 2010

Featured above: the cover and a promotional image for GHOST© The Illustrated Novel. Created by Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray and written by Phoebe Reeves Murray. Illustration by Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray, © 2010 Daniel Murray, All rights reserved. More info: www.ghostnovel.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.