Emily Edison: Volume 1

The artists tend to interject themselves and hit on their own creations now and then, but it's all done in such a light hearted, funny way that it passes as good family entertainment. Kinky, yet pure. The drawing style shows comic timing, if not great visual clarity, during some of the fight scenes (I lost some of the details due to similar colors in the frame). The story holds up and is carried by unique and individual characters. Very fun read.

Emily Edison is the kind of all-ages read Kevin Smith would come up with. Emily is the product of an ill-fated interdimensional romance, returning to our Earth with her father when her parents divorced, and later forced to use her "otherwordly powers" to defeat her maternal grandfather who wants her back in his world and is willing to destroy the Earth to make it happen. The back cover blurb bills the story as "the ultimate interdimensional custody battle", and it's pretty spot on as more than half of the story is comprised of extended fight scenes. Emily battling the badbots, her half-sister, the monstrous Stefah'nee, and finally, her grandfather himself. David Hopkins (who wrote the similarly off-kilter Karma, Incorporated) does a solid job of balancing the fighting with some character development, doing a particularly good job of grounding Emily's character as a believable teenage girl with believable teenage issues. Kudos also go to artist Brock Rizy for depicting Emily as a normal-looking girl, freckles and all. His distinctive overall style won't appeal to everyone, but it gives this story a unique look and feel that lives up to Viper's reputation for signature, quirky publications. My sole criticism of Emily Edison is the aforementioned Kevin Smith-ish influence that creeps up in random places, like the occasional manga-style panty shot and the discordant chapter intros that unnecessarily inject both the writer and artist into the story. Like the best of Smith's work, though, Hopkins and Rizy keep things light and entertaining, telling a fun story, and Emily Edison is a character I wouldn't mind seeing more of in the future. That it's been nominated for the inaugural Great Graphic Novels for Teens list by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the American Library Association should hopefully make that a more likely possibility.