Monday, April 29, 2024

Nothing Special

Nothing Special Volume 1: Through the Elder Woods
By Katie Cook
Ten Speed Press, 2024. 399 pages. Young Adult Comic.

In the grand scheme of the worlds at large, Callie thinks she's nothing special. Sure, she's friends with the ghost of a radish and her dad owns a magical antique shop--but she's spent her life in the human world. Her dad won't let her join him on his collection trips in the magical realm "for her own protection", so she's only caught glimpses of that world through the gates of the town where her father's store is. On her seventeenth birthday, Callie goes home with her friend Declan to find her home in disarray and her dad missing. Signs of a struggle point to the portal to the magical realm and when there are signs, you follow them. Now it's up to Callie, Declan, and Radish to band together and bring him home. As they face creatures good and bad, and all sorts of adventure, Callie and Declan may just find out that they are both special in their own ways after all.

When I tell you I love this comic, I mean that I absolutely adore it!  So much so that when I saw it was finally going to be printed after being only in digital format for so long, I knew I couldn't wait to own it!  This book is full of references to modern pop-culture and fun jokes and easter eggs hidden on signs in Callie's dad's shop and is in full color with beautifully rendered characters and intricate backdrops.  The characters were extremely well-developed, and the plot brought you along at just the right speed.  Don't miss out on this fun, fantastical adventure, and stay tuned for volumes two and three!

If you liked Nothing Special, you may also like:

Cursed Princess Club
By LambCat
Webtoon Unscrolled, 2023. 273 pages. Young Adult Comic.
 
Gwendolyn, the youngest of the King's three daughters, is living proof that princesses don't always have it all. She isn't like a typical fairy-tale princess, or other princesses in the Pastel Kingdom. Gwendolyn, with her big heart and love of baking, isn't particularly attractive. Unlike her sisters who have woodland creatures do their hair and makeup, or have flowers blossom wherever they sleep, Gwendolyn is a bit ... different. So when her father proposes marriage for her and her sisters to make an alliance with the Plaid Kingdom, it breaks Gwendolyn's heart to hear that Prince Fredrick thinks she's "really ugly." Overwhelmed and ashamed, she runs away into the forest and encounters the twisted world of the Cursed Princess Club, where her life will never be the same.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
By Deya Muniz
Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 235 pages. Young Adult Comic.

Cam disguises herself as a man to inherit her father's money and estate, and though she tries to keep a low profile, she ends up falling for Crown Princess Brie.


ERB

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