Boom Box- Boom! Studios 2016
Written by Hope Larson
Illustrated by Brittney Williams
Coloured by Sarah Stern
Lettered by Jim Campbell
In her continuing quest to solve the mystery of the missing necklace, Goldie gets her and her father in trouble with the hotel, is involved in a high-speed car chase, and becomes a fugitive from the cops!
This is just friggin awesome! It’s like Hope took all the qualities from both Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew put them together to create Goldie! Extremely good Detective skills with a penchant for breaking the rules, not to mention the law, all because she has this strong sense of righting wrongs and finding a kidnapped man.
As things in the case start to heat up things at work, by extension home, start to fall apart. Goldie’s teenage rivalry (one-sided) with Sugar have taken it’s toll. Sugar being the petty jealous type has ensured that Goldie’s father and her have been fired from the Hotel. Things escalate as Goldie hot on the trail of a woman stealing the necklace steals Sugar’s car. This action isn’t going to help matters any but desperate times call for desperate measures after all. The real question will be can all this be fixed once Goldie finds the missing Ludwig?
What Hope is doing with this is incredibly well done. Goldie’s characterization, her motivations and just everything about her is so well portrayed here. It goes to show that with some smarts, grit and determination that you can accomplish anything. Though the police and society in general does frown upon breaking the law in the name of justice so don’t do that. Otherwise this is so well done and her budding possible love interest is another example, aside from her mixed race heritage, that nothing should be considered a hindrance but should be embraced as our individuality should be celebrated.
It really takes a special kind of talent to weave a tale like this and I applaud the talent Hope has and hopefully the impact she’s making in this industry. This is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and brazen depictions of a teenage detective since well Veronica Mars and yet she doesn’t have to mimic any modern pop star (or god forbid reality nobody) image.
Brittney and Sara do wonders in bringing this to life. The all-ages artwork with it’s special kind of attention to detail really thrives here. There’s plenty of emotion and drama that comes off the pages and the faces, expressions and sometimes desires just make it all the more fun to read. The flow of the story utilizing pages and panels is great as are the the angles and perspectives used.
Headstrong, stubborn and full of zest this young woman, if she can temper her impulses a tad, has taken her place among the world’s best teenage detectives. I’m hoping this will become a franchise of continuing limited-series based on her adventures.