I now grind my own coffee beans. If this indicates that I’m getting older, I suppose I embrace that. While some of us grind beans every morning, some do it in the deep night to keep sleep—and monsters—at bay. Or rather, one person does that while we follow a life of continual caffeine and ghost sightings in Johnnie Christmas, Dante Luiz, Ryan Ferrier, and Atla Hrafney’s Crema. 

Since early childhood, Esme felt terrified of sleeping. That’s where the monsters lurked. As a result, she keeps herself awake with fresh brewed coffee every night. But this caffeine gave her the ability to see ghosts. Coffee gave Esme her best friend in Gerry, the ghost of an actress killed in an earthquake. Together, they watch old episodes of Gerry’s short-lived mystery sitcom so the latter doesn’t forget who she is. Esme spends her days working in a coffee shop. But this coffee shop is being bought up by a large chain and when its owner, Yara, meets Esme, we learn more about the origins of the shop’s coffee beans and what haunts the coffee growing fields in Brazil.

Crema has a fascinating story, but outside of its pages is something a bit more tenuous. Crema began its life as one of many ComiXology original digital graphic novels before being picked up by Dark Horse and given the physical print treatment. At this point, we’re lucky to have a tangible edition of Crema as ComiXology as we know it isn’t long for this world and will be rolled into Amazon’s Kindle apps in December. While the digital comics that existed on the storefront will still be around, but some may be trapped on a platform not made for them any longer and it feels like looking at the ghosts of old stories now.

Crema feels like a lucky spark of a comic—a wonderfully original love story of ghosts and coffee.

Get excited. Get brewing.

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, & 510) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.