Dystopias are a genre of fiction I keep coming back to. Despite the fact that post-apocalypse stories, often those featuring some measure of zombie, are all the rage these days, dystopian fiction has been around for decades as often a warning from the author to change our ways lest we end up in a horrible future. Andrew MacLean’s “ApocalytiGirl: An Aria For The End Times” takes a somewhat different, definitely refreshing approach to the genre.
Check out our spoiler free review of MacLean’s upcoming graphic novel to see why it’s one worth checking out.
Written and illustrated by Andrew MacLean
Alone at the end of the world, Aria is a woman with a mission! As she traipses through an overgrown city with a cat named Jelly Beans, Aria is on a fruitless search for an ancient relic with immeasurable power. But when a creepy savage sets her on a path to complete her quest, she’ll face death in the hopes of claiming her prize.
As explained in “ApocalyptiGirl” itself, an aria is a piece of music often written as part of operas as a self-contained melody to be performed by a single voice. An aria for the end times, then, would a be self-contained melody performed by a single voice regarding the apocalypse. Or, more fittingly in this case, a self-contained graphic novel written and illustrated by a single creator regarding the apocalypse.
“ApocalyptiGirl” is the story of a girl and her cat as the aptly named Aria searches the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Earth for an ancient artifact in a mission that, when we join her story, seems fruitless at best. MacLean employs a similar effect with this story as he did in his previous story, “Headlopper”, as he brings the reader in by introducing them to the character they will be following and connecting with, in this case Aria and her cat Jelly Beans, while alluding to a much grander world outside that. We only get to see a glimpse into the history of that world through a flashback sequence narrated by Aria, but it makes this world feel deep and alive and lived in and makes Aria’s quest all the more interesting as we see who inhabits the rest of this world.
For a book that’s essentially one girl’s quest to survive in the harsh wasteland of the post-apocalypse, MacLean does something interesting with “ApocalyptiGirl”: he makes it fun. More often that not, dystopian fiction is drab and dreary and morose and characters spend the whole thing reminiscing over what could have been if humans hadn’t made so many mistakes. “ApocalyptiGirl” isn’t like that. In fact, it’s a very refreshing take on the genre as Aria is a very lively character and her back and forth narration as she talks to herself and her cat – which is not a surprising thing for someone stuck with only a cat to talk to to do – makes the book a fun read. This nicely juxtaposes with just how jarring and surprising the violence is throughout the book. MacLean is a no holds barred kind of guy when it comes to violence and the lively tone and vibrant artwork makes the sudden violence all the more impactful every time it enters the book. While “ApocalyptiGirl” is a fun read, the apocalypse is certainly not all fun and games.
MacLean blends a lot of styles into “ApocalyptiGirl”‘s art that makes the books visual art really stand out. There’s a generous helping of a mix between anime and manga style – I picked up on a lot of the obvious Akira and Neon Genesis Evangellion stylings, but there’s also a lot of influence from Hayao Miyazaki here too – and European sci-fi comics artists like Moebius and even a little Hergé thrown into the mix with some Blade Runner and even a little The Omega Man. What that leads to is an artistic vision that wears its influences on its sleeves, but because of Andrew MacLean’s very angular yet fluid and very graceful art style, feels like something completely new entirely. The book feels unlike anything else I’ve ever read as MacLean blends all these influences into a style all his own and uses that to keep the world feeling fresh and interesting.
Continued belowIt’s not all style over substance, though. Because of the graphic novel format, MacLean didn’t have to worry about breaking this story into chapters and so he has the opportunity to let the story flow naturally, giving just as much time needed to the smaller moments as to the big ones. This really shows in MacLean’s storytelling as his panel layouts are often no-frills, straight-to-the-point layouts that trade in fanciness for efficiency, meaning he doesn’t have to skimp over the quiet moments or ground the momentum to a halt in order to develop the story’s characters. No, MacLean puts just as much heart and soul into the pages where Aria relaxes in what little downtime she has as he does into the crazy, escalating action of the finale. It gives each scene weight and means that the action scenes aren’t burdened with carrying book because they are fancy.
Speaking of action, that’s the last thing I really want to mention. You might think from the cover or how I’ve described the book thus far that “ApocalyptiGirl” is quaint little story of a girl and her cat surviving and making the best out of a bad situation. And it is. I’m not saying it isn’t that. But then all of a sudden the third act kicks in and what were shocking moments of violence in the first and second acts suddenly become all-out action as the whole world goes to hell and Aria needs to kick ass to survive. I don’t want to spoil just how great the finale of this book is, but the pacing MacLean employs of ramping up each story beat until the action simply explodes onto the page is a lot of fun to read.
Overall, “ApocalyptiGirl”, while it’s hard to spell right the first time, is a lot of fun. Andrew MacLean takes the gloriously no holds barred action of “HeadLopper” and fuses it with a very thoughtful and emotional take on a dystopian story with a main character you can’t help but feel attached to. The biggest compliment I can give the book is that it seemed like MacLean had a lot of fun putting this book together and that fun bled onto the page. It’s really hard not to have a blast with this book, especially if you share its love for anime and European sci-fi comics.
“ApocalyptiGirl” is a simple story with a lot of heart and storytelling skill and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pick this up. It’s a blast.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Like I said: it’s a blast. You need to check this out.
