Next of Kin (Royal City, #1) by Jeff Lemire

​I’ve long been a fan of Jeff Lemire’s work as both a writer and an artist. In fact, Lemire/Lemire is one of the best combinations. A poignant emotionally engaging storytelling combined with his trademark angularly-featured (seemingly simple, yet surprisingly expressive) faces works really well.
So I was excited for this trilogy and, for the most part, it did not disappoint.
Book on introduces us to Royal City. A rather bleak place. The sort of bleakness that gets into one’s soul and lingers. For one family, The Pikes, more so than others.
The youngest Pike kid died tragically age 14 and his death had devastating ripple effects on his next of kin for decades. So much so, that they are quite literally haunted by it; haunted by HIM.
Only, because Lemire is that clever of a writer, each of the family members sees a different version of their dead son or sibling, the one uniquely suited to them.
Very good. book two. Onward to book two.