Misfits of Avalon Vol. 1: The Queen of Air and Delinquency TPPublisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Price: $14.99
Creator: Kel McDonald
Format: 176 pgs., B&W, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-61655-538-2
Age Rating: 14+
ICv2 Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Sometimes when you pick up a new graphic novel there is a big glowing neon sign right in front of you that tells you that the title in question is not going to be an enjoyable experience. For me the problem with this book came within the first couple of pages when I realized that I had no idea what gender the main character was until the first use of a gender specific pronoun.
It would be unfair and overly harsh to say that the artwork in Misfits of Avalon is bad but the blocky designs of the characters or their costumes don't do it any favors. What really kills this book in my opinion is that the first chapter has very little in the way of hooks.
A teenage girl from a broken home meets a talking dog who gives her a ring and tells her that she must don a kilt and become a Celtic super heroine of sorts. You can grant that the premise is certainly interesting to read but the execution within the first chapter just doesn't do much to pull the reader in and subsequent chapters don't help either.
A prime example of this is the second character that is introduced is another girl at school (again, didn't realize she was female until I saw the pronoun being used) who can barely string together a sentence let alone a witty insult or retort to the main character. This leads to some painful banter between the two as they go back and forth throughout the book and try to one up each other in order to impress the shapeshifter (the dog eventually becomes a scruffy man) that gave them the magical rings.
This first book really tries to do a good job with mixing Celtic lore with the modern day but just fails to impress. If you're someone who desperately wants to read everything that is vaguely about Celtic mythology and Arthurian lore, you might find something here to pique your interest but very few others will.
--L.B. Bryant
