What a thrill to get my hands on this comic for review! It brings me back to the days I spent combing the comic book store bins for comics drawn and written by fellow lassies, and not only girl creators, but creators I could identify with. I did have the pleasure of reading the first Violet Miranda, Girl Pirate. And this one is, if anything, even stronger than the original. There’s a little more time for depth of the characters, and some gold ol’ girl-pirate history with a twist that us modern folk can easily comprehend and, at the same time, we can blink in amazement at the gall of the pirate girl/boy lives. Not only are the story line and characterizations enticing, the drawing must have been done by a sea creature herself. The feel of the sea, its harsh and beautifully intricate nature, are all there. Dawson doesn’t get stuck in a rut of repetitive paneling either. There is change and flow, and appropriate choppiness, such as the puzzle-like panels of the girl pirates learning to sword fight. If you too have spent your days looking for the needle in the haystack that is girl-positive comic tales, done by girls, you search will no longer be fruitless. And there are two more issues to come! (heze douglas)
Comic, #2, Emily Pohl-Weary & Willow Dawson, $4, 24 pgs., c/o Kiss Machine, P.O Box 108, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S8, [email protected], www.kissmachine.org/violet