Monday, May 01, 2006

"Pirates are the new pink."-Willow Dawson

Just read the first two issues of Willow Dawson and Emily Pohl-Weary's Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate today.

To quote Willow's little note to me in issue 2, "Pirates are the new pink".

What can I say about a comic involving two teenage girls learning to be pirates on a ship with the son of Anne Bonnie, one of the most famous female pirates in history?

Well, first off, its great. Its got a nice, fun story that keeps you reading. Its a solid pirate story, which is nice in a world where most pirate stories cross genres into horror or fantasy. Really, its a classic pirate story, involving a mysterious map, a buried treasure, and two girls shanghaied by the son of the man their fathers betrayed.

And Violet and her Elsa are no shrinking violets (no pun intended). By the end of issue 2 they've grown into a pair of swashbucklers who could probably give the Count of Monte Cristo a run for his money.

The art is great. Willow has this interesting style that's a bit hard to describe. Its not supre-realistic, but its refreshingly different from some of the more mainstream stuff I read. Its more than a little cartoony, but its fun. I really like it, and the covers are GREAT.

The covers are, in fact, what brought me to the book in the first place. Especially issue #2, which features Violet in her new breaches fencing on the deck of the ship with her wooden sword. It really encapsulates what the issue is about, but it also captures that playfullness that Violet and Elsa find in being pirates. Its a game to them, a game they are INCREDIBLY good at, and a game that's likely to cause them trouble in the future...but also take them far. That's not to say that they're not serious about it, but they really seem to come at piracy from the angle of the a pair of teenagers: full of energy and exuberance.

If you ever get a chance to pick up an issue, any issue, of Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate, do so. Its a rollicking good time.

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