“In this half existence which is my life …” says Oscar Zahn, explaining himself. The webtoon star is now the protagonist of a graphic novel (or really, a graphic short story collection). Zahn is a skull with a hat, hovering over his trench-coated body like a ghoulish ‘40s PI. However grotesque in appearance, he may be, he’s the good guy, a rescuer of lost souls who finds that the dead are just as haunted as the living. Canadian writer-illustrator Tri Vuong has fun with the conventions of gothic literature and examines his country’s history in a side story on Zahn in World War I.
‘The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn Volume 1’ by Tri Vuong
(Ten Speed Graphic)