“We bring our beliefs wherever we go.” The myths and lore from Africa came to America with the enslaved peoples. But it wasn’t just the stories that arrived in the New World; the gods came, too. One of these gods was the spider Anansi, who came to consume the stories of the captured Africans. The woman of the Turner family imprisoned Anansi before he could destroy people’s memories. When Vassie became ill, her son and his children came to Alabama to stay with the matriarch of the Turner family. Vassie must teach her only granddaughter, Patsy, the family hoodoo, to keep Anansi locked up. If Anansi is ever freed, he will devour the memories of anyone he comes across.

Devour is the debut graphic novel by award-winning comic journalist Jazmine Joyner. This grimdark horror graphic novel borrows from West African mythology but tells a dark story that could only come from America. Joyner uses their craft to focus on Black ancestral trauma. The tale of terror that Joyner weaves is punctuated with the brutal and bloody artwork of comic book artist Anthony Pugh. The grim yet captivating illustrations aid this book’s overall sense of dread and treachery. This horror novel, full of history and magic, is the story Anansi looks to devour.