.D.: After Death is published by Image Comics. It is written by Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Batman New 52, Wytches) with art by Jeff Lemire (has been the artist on titles such as Essex County, Sweet Tooth, and The Underwater Welder, and the writer of titles such as Moonknight 2016, Animal Man, and Descender). Basically, a couple of the most talented comic creators decided to get together and make a story to blow your mind.

This is the story of Jonah Cooke. A totally average guy. He doesn't have super powers, he's not rich, he isn't a scientist on the brink of a huge discovery. He's just a 40 year old dude, working on a farm when we first meet him. It's not quite a normal farm though, from what we gather from conversation. And while perhaps Jonah is normal, what he does and where he is, is not. Jonah is a kleptomaniac. If you don't know what that means, it means you have an uncontrollable urge to steal, and Jonah has quite the interesting collection of stolen things. His newest addition being a runt of the litter, calf. It is implied Jonah has something special in mind for this calf. It's going to help him fix his mistake. But what mistake? Why this calf? Why the top of the mountain? It's all so obscure but so alluring. We need to know the answers and even we don't know why we need to know, we just do.

This story is ghostly in the way it is written and drawn. It's haunting, it's like your reading a memoir from someone who died but yet here he is, standing in front of us on the page, telling his story. Jonah had a mostly average childhood. Mostly. Even so, something just feels off. The whole time you're reading, you have this feeling in your gut. It's that same kind of feeling you get when you're watching a thriller. Not a horror, a thriller. It's that feeling of knowing something isn't right and you're on the edge of your seat just waiting to find out what it is.You don't know how you know, you don't know why you feel it. You just do. That's the feeling I had the entire time reading this issue.

Pros: Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire are incredibly talented. I have yet to read something I did not enjoy by either of them, so putting them together on one comic is like a dream come true. Snyder creates an image all his own with just his words. There are several pages that are just print like you'd read in a book, but you don't need a picture, Snyder's words form it in your mind for you. He also has this way of writing that's just straight up haunting. Lemire has this uniquer art style that pairs perfectly with Snyder's writing. It's colorful but smokey somehow. Lemire uses watercolor and it creates this hazy, dreamlike experience for readers. Everything about this comic is eerily beautiful and I just loved it.

Cons: Although I personally don't find it to be a con, I do feel like it's something to point out – there are several pages that are just words on watercolor canvas. While I found it to be an incredibly interesting way to tell portions of the story, I do know there are many comic readers who would pick up this issue, flip through it, see all the pages of just words, and put it right back down. It's unfortunate, but it's true. However, if you are one of those style of readers, I encourage you, give this book a chance. It's worth it.

Overall Score: 9.8 / 10

This book is what we have been waiting for. It was set to come out in the fall of 2015 (though it was announced a while before that) and was supposed to be released as a graphic novel. I like the way they are approaching it as a 3-issue series instead of just a graphic novel though. It is already every bit worth the wait.

Happy reading!