Review by C.J. Bunce
First and foremost the new book Nothing Special Volume One: Through the Elder Woods is cute. Available for the first time this month in a collected edition, the first “season” of the webcomic by Katie Cook is a fantasy story pulling ideas from fantasy tropes. Starring a teen girl named Callie, young readers follow along on a kids’ version of The Lord of the Rings as Callie and friends she meets in the style of The Wizard of Oz embark on an epic journey into the unknown. Tapping into elements we recently saw in manga titles like Alpi the Soul Sender and Witch of Thistle Castle, Callie’s journey is that of a teen trying to find herself in a woodland realm where everything and everyone seems to have a different agenda.
Sometimes kids just need to take their own journey. Maybe that’s out with friends, maybe that’s just time past the front gate. Callie’s dad has always warned her about the woods, but when he disappears on her seventeenth birthday, what else is she to do? Callie has magical abilities. She can see little spirits, ghosts of…vegetables including a radish who becomes very protective of her. She is befriended by Declan, a boy from school who she has never noticed before. Declan, too, has his own magical powers–he grew pink wings and learned he was a fairy on his own seventeenth birthday. As they journey off into the Elder Woods to find her dad, they grow closer, although that radish is trying to keep him at a distance.
It all gets worse when a prince named Lasser joins the small fellowship. He is 87th in line to the throne of his kingdom, and is the first to realize Callie has another ability: she is a muse with the power to inspire others. As the party of four makes its way to find Callie’s dad, the story’s Big Bad comes into a focus: a lady Ent–a talking tree–will stop at nothing, including killing her friends and spirit creatures, to get Callie to join her.
Will Callie ever find her dad? Can she save him from the dark forces in the Elder Woods?
Pop culture references are more for adult readers than the target audience, but this collection of the modern descendants of classic comic strips will appeal to kids trying to find their own way.
The full-color artwork also by Cook is cheery and fun, and the story only gets slightly dark toward the end. This volume includes additional artwork and extras not found in the web version of the comic.
Cook previously wrote for IDW Publishing’s My Little Pony series, and this story will fit for fans of that series and those a bit older. The thick 412-page hardcover format makes for a fun storybook. Just released from Ten Speed Graphic, order Nothing Special Volume One: Through the Elder Woods now here at Amazon.
