Friday, June 17, 2016

Graphic Novel: Feathers, by Jorge Corona & Jen Hickman

Feathers
writer & illustrator: George Corona
colors: Jen Hickman
letters: Deron Bennett
ISBN: 9781608867530
Order vs Chaos, white vs black feathers, street urchins, and a scary cowled figure trailing blood-red mind-controlling music.

Poe was left with his foster father as a small feathered infant boy.  His father wishes to keep him secret and safe, but Poe sneaks out during the daylight hours to help the Mice - the street children of the wild Maze outside the giant walls of the orderly City.  Bianca is a bored spoiled child of the city, and she runs away during a trip out into the Maze.  Paired up with Poe, the two children discover a sinister plot that threatens all the children of the city - inside and out.  Further, Poe discovers more about his heritage and two mysterious "narrator" figures hint at further stories to come.

Something very "Steamboy" about the bare-bones plot of a strange boy - an outsider even among outsiders - joining forces with an upper-crust girl against semi-mystical forces of evil, but beyond that overarching association, it's a fun story that reads quickly and very clearly with a smallish cast of quite neatly individualized characters who all serve important character or plot functions.

The panels are clear and generally easily followed, but some of the action scenes are a bit muddled or unclear, and we're left to consult the character dialogue to figure out what happened.  I really like the inclusion at the end of the process pages and original pitch along with commentary from the author/illustrator to show his thought-process in developing the story and the character appearances.  

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