Blackwater

[cornerofmadness]

Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tony and Eli's story contains some pretty familiar tropes, the star athlete (Tony), the socially awkward shy kid (Eli) so you know the romance is going to follow well trod paths. That doesn't mean that the story is hum drum by any means. I received the sampler of this graphic novel from Netgalley (which in no way affected my review and thanks for the ARC) and missed out on the protagonists' full stories (Tony is obviously biracial and is bi, Eli is chronically ill and trans)

Tony's best friend, Biff, is the school football star and school bully who has a real hate for Eli who has done nothing but be weird (in fact other than not wanting to change in the locker room I'm not sure the others have a clue Eli is trans because that seems like something Biff would have rampaged about) No one has a good family life really. Eli's German-speaking mother is not particularly supportive and cold, Tony's father is too busy for him (and we don't see mom) and Biff's family is definitely one of those circle of violence types.

Tony finds himself drawn to Eli especially after a very ugly incident with Biff, confiding that he has bad asthma and Eli invites him over. However we get to see something very interesting with Eli. He sees spirits and knows they are warning him away from the woods. He can't tell Tony why he needs to stay out of the woods only that he should.

So guess who Biff takes hunting? Yeah. There is definitely something paranormal in the woods and really my sampler ends just as the paranormal starts. I really liked Tony and Eli and especially liked Tony's friend Marcia a PoC goth girl. I think this is a web comic so I'm going to have to go out looking for more.

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