pedestrienne

Craig Thompson's books are always, always detailed and gorgeous. He nails the experssions on Violet's face - the openness, determination, and curiosity of being a tween, giving her youth without erasing facial characteristics or making her look adult. The colorist, too, on this one did a fantastic job bringing Violet's world to life. In the story the depth of the world battles the simplicity of the quest, and the the quest keeps shifting - finding Violet a school, Violet going after her dad, the gang saving a baby space whale, are they going to make a revolution and upend the strict plutocracy of their society or are they just trying to get back to status quo and make the rent or what? There's not a clear throughline which makes it seem like a book for readers older than the age group it might be marketed towards, and the conclusion doesn't touch the societal issues it riles up, which left me unsatisfied. But I do love space adventures told in comics because that means the artist can draw a bunch of fun creatures.