Veronica Fish

Wow okay wait I enjoyed this so much! It’s a girl-powered slice of life roller derby story, and was super fun to read. I loved the characters, the energy of the sport, the celebration of the body, and the very real feeling look at how women balance their lives and friendships. I saw some other reviews saying the plot felt lacking, and I understand that argument, but for me personally it hit all the marks. SLAM is just really chill and realistic, and I want to be friends with the derby girls so bad now!… (mere)

What attracted me originally to this graphic novel was the beautiful cover. I was walking down the aisle at a book conference and the colors just grabbed me. Throughout the book Veronica Fish uses color--bright vivid color such as you see on the cover--sparingly to illustrate the "real world" (in monochromatic grays, blacks and white) versus the world that when Wendy needs to escape from her grief. Its telling that when the story shifts to Neverland (later on) its a complete explosion of colors and when we come back to the real world those colors slowly introduce themselves into the comic as Wendy learns to accept her choices.

I felt for Wendy and I wondered how much was truly happening and how much was her need for closure. Sometimes, especially when grief is strong and the world seems so...hostile, its easy to believe something so fantastical is preferable. And the guilt she carried...

I've never made secret my intense dislike of Peter Pan. Finding out Barrie meant him to be the actual villain of the book originally made my day because he's always, always, come off that way to me (in the actual book, many versions of him paint him less creepy/malevolent and more careless/oblivious/selfish). Here...he's not the problem. Not really. Oh he's not helpful, but he does make several good points to Wendy that she doesn't want to believe and he does help her in the end.

This story is very much a handbook of what happens when you become so wrapped up in something it isolates you. Several times throughout Wendy neglects to think of the consequences of her actions in an effort to prove her belief right. She pushes people away and behaves self destructively. When she does realize how her actions have maybe not been the best for her brother John, she attempts to pull away...only to give in and go deeper.

At times the book was confusing - it never really answers whether this is all a delusion to comfort herself or if it really happens. There's some high school drama that gets in the way a little and her parents come off not very sympathetic for most of the book. As we see things from Wendy's point of view, their actions come off cold and abrupt, with little nuance into their own feelings until nearer the end when Wendy starts to recognize how much she's ignored.

… (mere)

This was a lot of fun.

Two women, Jen and Maisie, meet at a roller derby tryout and become fast friends. They end up being drafted onto different teams, which starts to put some cracks in their young but intense friendship. Jen flourishes on the track, but is struggling with her studies, while Maisie's skate skills take a while to improve, she starts a sweet relationship with a guy who adores her.

Jen and Maisie's friendship is really cute, if very homoerotic. It's the central relationship, with roller derby being both the means for their relationship to start and also the narrative device through which it's viewed.

I absolutely adored the Veronica Fish's art and Brittany Peer's colouring. Colouring is such an underrated aspect of comics and with roller derby being so colourful literally and metaphorically, it was a huge part of the overall story for me.… (mere)