RED LIGHT PROPERTIES
Dan Goldman
2014
IDW Publishing

This is a really fun graphic novel with a fresh idea and a lot of heart. The setup is this: a married couple runs a real-estate firm in Florida, they sell houses that were once haunted and then cleaned of haunting. The husband Jude Tobin does the ghostly work of exorcising the spirits. He can see the dead and while he once worked with a group doing just research he now uses his gift, if you can call it that, to make these home livable again. His wife, Cecilia Matos-Tobin is the brains, she has the real estate license and the gift of salesmanship. The also work with Rhoda Lipshitz who sets up the loans and Zoya Pashenko who as it turns out has a gift for photographing ghosts. Jude and Zoya show up, find the ghosts and get them to leave. Cecilia finds a buyer and Rhoda gets them the loan to buy. Cool set up.
We step into their lives during some turmoil, The Tobins are having marriage problems, business is down and they are scrambling to do what they can. We find that Jude’s ability to see ghosts is draining and he uses various drugs and holistic mixtures to help him see better or to tune out. Cecelia doesn’t understand what he’s going through and thinks he’s a bit of a goof. And he is, just not for the reasons she thinks. Zoya loves what she does but with business down she isn’t getting paid. However she and Jude are actually working on a book they hope will make them some money and convince people that these things they see are real.
I really enjoyed this because I very quickly grew to like each of these strange people, flaws included. Also what passes for a normal day for them is pretty fun to see. Goldman does a great job of making these people very real and does not gloss over the typical human flaws that makes us who we are. In fact, here it makes these people more interesting. I felt Jude’s frustration, I understood Cecilia’s anger. I was also hoping that they turn the business around just as they were hoping to.
The art works great for this story. I love the expressions and the way the characters cock their heads. The look in their eyes and their body language speaks volumes. The trippy stuff when Jude “crosses over” are also great visually.
This is a very smart and human book with a cast of characters I want to read a lot more about.
Jon Jordan