Couri Vine, Issues 1 & 2 by Vanessa Shealy and Leah Lovise

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IMG_20170510_214804Couri Vine #1: Young People for the Leader

This is a fine introductory outing for Couri, combining tropes of children’s literature with good old-fashioned pulpy sci-fi. An outsider ripped from her everyday school & community life by revelations about her family and her world that she alone can resolve, Couri follows in the footsteps of Monica Huges’ Olwen in Keeper of the Isis Light with many of the lunar trappings of Paula Danziger’s This Place Has no Atmosphere. Lovise’s character designs are distinct and her linework approachable without being overly cute; rendering of sci-fi stables like robots and spacecraft bear recognizably classic influences, often with a whimsical twist. Panel structure is regular and easy to follow, generating some of its own vernacular for communicating speed and flow.

Couri Vine #2: Journey to the Planet Earth

Couri’s adventure takes her far from home in pursuit of her history and a way to rescue her grandfather as they tale takes on both the timeline of ecological disaster and the family drama which has created the world she inhabits. This issue incorporates more action and intrigue, expanding the mystery by explaining part of it. The map endpapers, which will hopefully continue throughout the series as a world-building supplement to the text, incorporate more than what the plot touches on and bring contemporary elements of ecological concern into the sci-fi setting.

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