Berger Books/Dark Horse Comics 2018
Written by Darin Strauss & Adam Dalva
Illustrated by Emma Vieceli
Coloured by Lee Loughridge
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
A girl power epic! To save a boy she barely knows, teenage orphan Olivia Twist joins the Esthers, a rag-tag girl gang of thieves running free in a dangerous future. Olivia's life in this London of internment camps and dark technology gets even more complicated when she discovers that she has more power and wealth than she's ever dreamed of. But it comes at a great cost.
I was a little leery of reading this one but given Berger Books track record I thought I would go ahead and give it a try. Mind you Oliver Twist was one of my favourite films growing up and nothing could replace Mark Lester as Oliver in my heart. That having been said this doesn’t try to remake the original story, sure it takes the concept of the story and runs with it set in a London of the future where the worst of humanity has reared it’s ugly head and they won.
The opening here is good, strong and solid stuff. I like how we get the narration from Olivia which means she’s recanting the tale of her life from before it even began. While this may or may not indicate a happy ending we do know that she’s still alive. Or she recorded the story for prosperity either way I don’t believe her story ends here. I am very impressed that the guys are able to create a setting in which the London of the future ends up resembling the London of the Industrial Age. The landslide of civilisation is something few can pull off well and wow this is more than well done folks.
The way that this is structured is very well done. I like seeing some clues here and there regarding characters and foreshadowing. The flow of the book is so good that I honestly thought that this was some kind of oversized special at first. It isn’t but there is so much story packed into this and in such a way that it’s like magic was used to get it all in without it feeling like we were being bombarded or had too much forced upon us. The pacing really is sensational and its got that ebb & flow to it that feels more like roller coaster than going through the rapids.
I like the interiors here also. The linework comes across as delicate at times which for me is perfect for the faces and facial expressions which for me are a true measure of talent. The manipulation of the linework through such thin, clean, crisp lines create that perfect balance between soft, hard and damn creepy. It is amazing how much emotion the work brings and how the colours are able to be as soft or hard as the linework and location need them to be. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a superb eye for storytelling. Plus the way that we see backgrounds being utilised makes a huge impact on seeing and understanding what the world has become.
With the setting and what this is based off of this could be and might well be something spectacular. That the names are pretty much the same only gender swapped could have made this just another run of the mill telling of a classic Dickens story. However with the kind of characterisation that we get and how integrated it is with this era and how far humanity has fallen it feels fresh, new and exciting in all of the best ways. I am hooked on a feeling and it’s glorious!