But can she truly be happy with no friends? (From First Second)įaith Erin Hicks is an Eisner Award-winning comics creator known for books like The Adventures of Superhero Girl and Friends with Boys.
There are plenty of horses to ride, and Victoria is perfectly happy giving the other riders the cold shoulder. A place where she doesn't have to worry about anything other than riding.
After a heartbreaking fight with Taylor, Victoria needs a new start - at a new stables. And even though Victoria's best friend Taylor loves competing, Victoria has lost her taste for it. But riding in competitions is high stakes, high stress, and shockingly expensive. The story flows intuitively, peppered by Hicks’ consistently funny, pitch-perfect dialogue.VIctoria has always loved horses. And the colors are simply gorgeous, with a lovely mixture of blue, red, and green that makes the characters pop. Backgrounds brim with rich detail, immersing you in the world of the story. Facial expressions are clear and instantly readable. Characters are bold and lifelike, with an excellent balance between medium and close-up framings. Scenes consistently end on a high point, like mini cliffhangers, compelling you to keep turning pages to see how it all plays out. The book’s pacing is extraordinary, with expertly crafted beats from start to finish. They’re likable, relatable, and they mesh together beautifully, giving us a nice array of personality types, skin tones, and objectives in a compact ensemble.Īrtistically, Hicks’ cartooning is virtually flawless. By centering characters, not competition, we get a deeper, more revealing look at Victoria, Norrie, Hazel, and Sam. Refreshingly, Hicks ditches these well-worn sports tropes in favor of a story that feels more unique. On and off the page, leagues, tournaments, and rankings provide intrinsically high-stakes conflict with a built-in sense of urgency. From swimming to LEGO robotics and everything in between, after school activities these days are all about competition. As anyone with kids can attest, the idea of playing soccer, softball, tennis-or participating in virtually any other activity-“just for fun” is a largely thing of the past. There’s a kernel of truth in Norrie’s histrionic reaction.
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