Author: Otis Frampton
Publisher: Image Comics
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!
Oddly Normal is actually her name. She's half witch, her mom hailing from Fignation - a fantasy land - but the family living on contemporary Earth, her dad's home. Oddly is picked on cruelly by people at school for her green hair and her pointed ears. Her parents seems to think she can invite a hundred friends to her birthday party, but she has no friends. In a fit of pique, Oddly wishes her parents would disappear and leave her alone and indeed they do. Now Oddly has to go live with her aunt in Fignation, and if she felt odd on Earth, it's nothing compared with how out-of-place she feels in Fignation.
I have to say that the cruelty to children at school motif is a bit of a cliché these days, but if you can overlook that, and you're receptive to this kind of story, you'll probably enjoy this comic. The characters are interesting and playful (except for the bullies, of course!), and the pages are colorful, warm and very well drawn.
The panels in Fignation are even more colorful and evocative. Fignation is totally bizarre as Oddly discovers when she opens her aunt's door the very first day she's there. of course, in the completely weird world she has to attend school, and despite her optimistic belief, she finds herself just as much of a square peg there as she was in her old school.
I recommend this graphic novel as a fun and unusual story full of quirks and sly humor, and with an interesting and strong female character.
