I know I usually talked about books on here, but recently I have found myself to be in a bit of a reading slump (aside from The Cursed Child, no reading slump would have kept me away from that) and fell towards something I don't think I have explored before - comics/graphic novels. I did try to get into a few Japanese ones that were available at my school a long, long time ago and just never really enjoyed them. Later on, I came across a Coraline graphic novel but I hated the art style. DC/Marvel comics were never available to me, and I always got confused with the #52, etc, sorta thing. I'll get more into DC/Marvel in future posts, though.
I found out about Image Comics through a YouTube channel you've undoubtedly heard of, Comicsorian, which does little "everything that has happened so far" recaps on comic books and hilariously done dramatic readings. They did a recap video on a little series named I Hate Fairyland (read it here), which automatically appealed to me for 3 reasons: The art style was exactly my cup of tea and very similar to Oddly Normal, here, which is why I clicked on Oddly Normal and read the first volume; it was the opposite of usual stories you hear about, where little girls go into whole new worlds and are amazed by the wonders; and thirdly, fairies. I love me some fairies. Again, I will go into a discussion about this comic book series in a future post.
Long story short, I loved I Hate Fairyland and instantly went on a search though Image Comics until another one of them appealed to me, of which I found this and was not let down. It was very similar, in more then one way.
Oddly Normal (yes, that's her name) is a half-witch living with her very peculiar mother and perfectly mundane father in what appears to be a small castle. She's consistently teased at school for having green hair, pointed ears and being called Oddly Normal. One day, her birthday, she comes home and decides she's had enough of this life but specifically she's had enough of her parents. She blows out the candles and wishes that they would just disappear. And they do. Her aunty, arriving late and therefore not being dragged away with the castle, decides that to keep her safe she must bring Oddly back to Oddly's mothers hometown Fignation. So yes, this is a middle-grade novel, but still very much enjoyable for ages of all kinds I would say.
It contains monsters, witches, aliens, you name it yet the characters are oddly relatable and fun and quirky, just very likable. The world of which Fignation is set in is just gorgeous. Stunning. I wish I could at least visit there, it's beautiful. It has a very space kind of vibe, while also being very Wonderland-y, and also reminds me of Meet the Robinsons for some reason - it's like Back to the Future, too. Just, trust me! The art style just has incredible detail, suits the mood of where the story is heading and the colour palettes are phenomenal.
I am highly excited for what the next volume will bring, which I believe is already available so I'm going to try and find that to read straight away!
Thanks to reading comics by Image, I have found it easier to read comics by DC/Marvel and have mostly stuck to rebirth/New 52 comics (much to my friends' annoyance, he gave me a full chronological list on all his favourites and I went and broke my phone so that it was all lost - oops!). I highly recommend them!
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