Sun-bleached cliffs, crashing Pacific waves and four centuries of buried sins collide in Estuary: A Ghost Story #1, a four-issue limited series that drags the haunted history of old California out from under the tide, where Spanish missions and restless spirits lurk beneath the postcard-perfect surface of the Golden State.
Written by Tim Daniel and David “D.B.” Andry, who worked together on Crush Depth and Morning Star, and illustrated by Mine is a Long Lonesome Grave artist Maan House, Estuary: A Ghost Story pairs character-driven dread with atmospheric visuals, channeling California’s mythic past into a slow-burn supernatural nightmare. Also, it makes use of Andry’s grade-school diorama skills, something I can attest most California students get to experience:
“Estuary: A Ghost Story is a pretty perfect example of Tim and I writing what we know,” Andry said. “Both of us hailing from Northern California and growing up in and around San Francisco, Bodega Bay and Monterey, this book captures the haunted vibes, the mystery, the romance and the sense of history of these areas. Myself being raised Catholic, tying the other-worldly elements of Estuary to the very real past of the Missions I grew up making dioramas of, was both natural and cathartic. This was a story that poured out of Tim and I, more like something waiting to be discovered rather than something created.”
Publisher Oni Press shared more details on the story:
Atop a rocky cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean sits the Mission at Arbués Point, a 400-year-old Spanish mission made infamous as one of California’s oldest and most haunted historical sites. But beneath its crumbling, tourist-trap facade, a reclusive nun has spent decades within the Mission’s walls, honing her prayers and practice in pursuit of a secret long-buried beneath the majesty of the chapel, and under the dark waves of the tidal estuary below. When marine archaeologist Maris Cristobal accepts the nun’s offer to begin excavating a fabled shipwreck lying in wait beneath the Mission’s turbulent waters, she’ll soon discover that the sins of past and present are about to wash together into a harrowing surge of a vengeance that can no longer be contained . . .
“Drawing Estuary was a process of searching for that which surrounds us but remains hidden,” House said. “I tried to capture the mystery of what the sea carries away and the heavy silence of the mission ruins, giving form to the invisible presences that inhabit the landscape. I intended to evoke an atmosphere where the hidden carries as much weight as what lies before us.”
Here’s a look at some of House’s interior artwork:
The first issue will feature variant covers by House, Daniel and Vanesa R. Del Rey:
“With Estuary: A Ghost Story, we were invited by editor Bess Pallares to be a part of Oni Press’ storied history with a modern gothic tale shrouded in fog, set aflame, and driven over the cliffs of Monterey Bay,” Daniel said. “Artist Maan House and colorist Steve Canon have combined their talents to conjure a book awash with a dreadfully thick atmosphere drenched in Maan’s deep blacks and alight with Steve’s brazen Hammer Horror-esque colors. The mix of the spiritual and the supernatural is thick and present on every page, but a gothic tale is not complete without a touch of romance, and in Maris Cristobal and Hunt Willis readers can expect our unwitting sleuths to discover not only their desire for one another, but a deep dark malevolence lurking beneath the grounds of the old Mission at Point Arbués—an age-old vengeance enrobed in extreme piousness. Estuary: A Ghost Story is a modern gothic tale for the smartphone age.”
Look for the first issue of four on April 8.