This beautifully illustrated black and white saga holds much promise. It’s the first comic in a series of four. The drawings are wonderful: bold and full of thought. It’s not often that the visuals in a comic can capture enough life to make me both grimace and revel in their beauty. My grimaces were apparent when studying a dirty pirate’s shredded nails, overgrown nose hair and crooked gap teeth-I think I could even smell him. And beauty: Violet, the main gal in this series, has hair that has been blown by the sea her whole life, surrounded in starfish and flowing seaweed, not to mention the breathtaking sea turtle. The story line has all the elements you would expect in a pirate tale, with a girl twist: two young pearls of the ocean raised by their ex-pirate parents on a self-sustaining desert island; treasure maps, booty, codes of conduct, bloodshed, seagulls, and a black ship. There is even a comparatively handsome young pirate, loyal to his male lineage in executing revenge, but nevertheless gallant with the ladies. I can delight in where this tale may go, and I will definitely pick up the next installment to check it out. I look forward to any twists Pohl-Weary is willing to throw our way while feasting my eyes on more of Dawson’s oceanic illustrations. (heze d)
Comic, #1, 24 pgs, $4, Emily Pohl-Weary & Willow Dawson, c/o Kiss Machine, P.O Box 108, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S8, [email protected] or www.kissmachine.org/violet