ILLUSTRATION BY ZUYUAN ZHOU, Laila Starr, no longer the god of death, watches the sunset, marking the end of her past. Tomorrow will be a new day for her as a human being.
Ram V bridges life and Death
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Sweat ran down her blue face when she arrived. Death anxiously walks to the front door; behind it is where she will learn about her new fate from her boss.
As a result of a corporate file stating a boy will create immortality, Death is being let go; there is nothing she can do about it — except by removing the person who caused it. Before being cast down to Earth, she got help from her coworker, Agni. They help Death get closer to the boy by sending her into a dead body at the hospital where the boy is being born. The body Death inherits is the body of Laila Starr, a girl who lost her life to suicide. Now with a human body that is closer to her target, Death is ready to commence her plan.
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr is a modern take on gods with corporate jobs in heaven. It focuses on Death and her time on Earth as a mortal after being fired. As Death roams the world in the body of Laila Starr, her humanity and understanding of human nature grow.
I love the illustrations in this graphic novel. The illustrator, Filipe Andrade, filled the pages with vibrant images that pushed the storytelling to another level. The illustrations are not over-detailed and do a good job of focusing on certain parts of the story. On top of that, the writer, Ram V, fills the pages with beautiful sentences that pluck at the heartstrings. During one part of the story, Death questions the purpose of ceremonies that humans perform for the dead; her friendly companion, a funeral crow, responds with this:
“It’s the one thing that is theirs. Not death itself, but what you leave behind. They burn the soul because the soul is immortal. But it is reincarnated into another cycle. The only thing that marks each lifetime is the memories left behind. To be witnessed by someone else and to be remembered when you are gone. These are the things that belong to mortals.”
In the span of only 128 pages, V wrote an amazing story. Filled with lines that moved my heart and beautiful illustrations, this comic left me thinking about what this story meant in terms of the world I currently live in. It is safe to say that the story forever changed my perspective on death. The feeling this comic has left on me will surely never die.
