The Corus Wave
The Corus WaveCartoonist: Karenza Sparks
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
Publication Date: October 2025
The Corus Wave, the debut graphic novel of Cornish artist Karenza Sparks, is a cozy science mystery that’s equal parts archaeology, paleontology, and architecture. Guided by Sparks’s immersive art, the reader follows two students on an adventure to uncover the secret research of a polymath scientist whose genius has been lost to time.
While following up on footnotes for her Master’s thesis on an unusual star-shaped fossil, a graduate student in Earth Sciences named Lorelei encounters a reference to something called “the Corus Wave” that she can’t find anywhere on the internet. What she does find is a Wikipedia page for a nineteenth-century scientist named Havius Corus, which in turn leads her to the obscure Corus Society in the picturesque fictional town of Chorksbury. Corus designed many of Chorksbury’s civic buildings, all the while leaving clues to guide future scholars to a scientific discovery whose implications couldn’t be appreciated in his own era.
The Corus Society appears to be a typical small-town civic club, but its members are thoroughly convinced of Havius Corus’ genius. Helen, the warm and pleasant woman who spoke to Lorelei on the phone, tells them that Corus’ pioneering work in science and architecture would be in textbooks if he hadn’t gone off the rails into occult spiritualism late in his life. Corus believed that a natural phenomenon he termed “the Corus Wave” was a manifestation of the voices of higher powers singing in harmony. Unfortunately, not even Helen knows what this means, as all the writing Corus published on the subject has disappeared.
“This is just like a Dan Brown novel,” remarks Lorelei’s roommate Eddie, a student in Forensic Science who accompanies her to Chorksbury. This assessment proves to be apt, especially once Lorelei and Eddie embark on a scavenger hunt across the town. They begin at one of the prominent town landmarks, a church designed and built by Corus. When Eddie spots an interesting pattern in the bricks of the outer garden wall, Lorelei pulls aside the ivy to find an indentation in the exact shape of her fossil. The brick pops out to reveal a carved message leading the seekers forward.
From there, Lorelei and Eddie visit various points of interest around the town while solving puzzles to find new clues at each location. Along the way, they encounter a certain Dr. Marley, a member of the Corus Society who always seems to be one step ahead of their research. This competition against a rival scholar to uncover the lost Corus manuscripts is relatively low-stakes and relaxed, however, and Lorelei’s main concern is that she won’t graduate on time if her thesis isn’t approved.
Despite Lorelei’s misgivings, Eddie is having the time of her life, as is Dr. Marley, and the mystery of the Chorksbury fossils begs to be solved. Though there’s no actual magic in The Corus Wave, the speculative paleobiology that informs Corus’ research is ever so slightly beyond the realm of the mundane. Unlike an Indiana Jones story, however, it’s easy to imagine Lorelei and Eddie’s adventures actually happening. Instead of diving into ancient catacombs or forgotten ruins, the two students explore everyday structures like the local botanical gardens, a scenic clocktower, and the public library, often sharing space with the town’s residents.
The Corus Wave is a celebration of the joys of research. The hunt for Corus’ manuscripts begins with a footnote that becomes a rabbit hole, but the story evolves in a more practical direction as the two students find friendship and support in a scholarly community. Their fieldwork provides opportunities to appreciate the human stories behind a built environment whose unique design flourishes might otherwise be taken for granted. The Corus Wave is about going offline and touching grass, the pleasure of which is conveyed through gentle and attractive art that presents lively and expressive characters navigating interior spaces that only reveal their secrets under close observation.
Lorelei and Eddie are engaging guides for the reader, propelling the story forward with their curiosity and friendship, and The Corus Wave models the excitement of developing a deeper understanding of a research subject that leads to the satisfaction of watching the component parts fit neatly together. I imagine this graphic novel would be a fun selection for a library summer reading club, especially in tandem with a local history lesson and bespoke scavenger hunt. Karenza Sparks’s energetic writing and art communicate the infectious enthusiasm of her characters and the charm of her native Cornwall, and The Corus Wave offers a hearty boost of encouragement to go outside and keep the adventure going.
The Corus Wave is available from Avery Hill Publishing.
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