With its series of madcap capers, hotel/resort setting, adventurous spirit, and animated attitude, “Goldie Vance” #1 seems to share a life force with The Grand Budapest Hotel. However, Hope Larson and Brittney Williams’s new series from Boom! Box feels like it has just as much Westing Game to it, including a hotel staffed with a bunch of eccentrics, a bizarre cryptic mystery, a plucky young detective, and all these people getting mixed up in some larger scheme. More than all that, though, “Goldie Vance” #1 takes all these elements and mixes it with its own energy and humor to create this energetic and gung-ho opening chapter.
Written by Hope Larson
Illustrated by Brittney Williams and Sarah SternWhat’s to Love: From Nancy Drew to Veronica Mars, we really dig girl detectives! Hope Larson (A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel) and Brittney Williams (Patsy Walker, A.K.A Hellcat!) present the newest gal sleuth on the block with Goldie Vance, an exciting, whodunnit? adventure that mixes the fun of Eloise with the charm of Lumberjanes.
What It Is: In a timeless story, 16-year-old Marigold “Goldie” Vance lives at a Florida resort with her dad, who manages the place. Her mom, who divorced her dad years ago, works as a live mermaid at a club downtown. Goldie has an insatiable curiosity, which explains her dream to one day become the hotel’s in-house detective. When Charles, the current detective, encounters a case he can’t crack, he agrees to mentor Goldie in exchange for her help solving the mystery utilizing her smarts, random skills, and connections with the hotel staff and various folks in town.
Young Goldie Vance fancies herself a detective. Actually, she’s a valet driver at the Crossed Palms Resort in Florida (it’s fully air conditioned), but she’s donated all her time to helping out at the resident detective services. “They’re quite understaffed,” she says. “Not sure I’d agree,” says the real in-house detective, Mr. Toomey. Not that Goldie Vance’s going to let something like qualifications or adolescence from stopping her. She’s always ready at a second’s notice with a notepad and hunger for the truth.
The story in “Goldie Vance” #1 serves more as an introduction to the eponymous character and her world rather than some deep exploration of the overall plot. Her position in the hotel — both professionally and voluntarily — allows her to encounter all sorts of people and poke around different parts of the building. She stumbles on a case involving a necklace stolen from this German dude, which leads her throughout the hotel until it eventually culminates in a drag race. This initial mystery Larson and Williams introduce is wrapped up by issue’s end, even though there remains some lingering questions to carry us through the rest of the story. For as much that goes on, though, a lot of the setup/resolution here comes off like a trailer, a preview of what we can expect from this comic. Of course, the whole series may be structured around these done-in-one cases, culminating in some larger mystery: it’s difficult to say at this moment.
But that mystery isn’t really what “Goldie Vance” #1 cares about. Larson and Williams take the opportunity to establish location and character relationships, elements you know are going to play out some time later on.
Larson packs a lot into the issue, and the book feels like it’s constantly moving forward. Yet her control over the material, her willingness to pause and let Williams hold on an expression, and instinct for a good joke keeps the script from feeling overwhelming or freakishly rushed. Maybe this overview of the hotel goes on for too long, especially when given only four issues to deliver a story (that weird and never-really-satisfying magic number Boom! seems to love), but all that might honestly be just not seeing the forest through the trees.
Brittney Williams’s art look animation-ready. The panels look like a stack of cels ready to be photographed: gorgeous backgrounds, basic lighting, figures and designs easy to move and manipulate. She makes sure to keep up the page dynamic and, with colorist Sarah Stern, strives to make sure we know what’s going on and where to focus our attention. This is none more evident than in the car race, with Goldie Vance’s bright red car against her purple opponent. I was definitley about the outfits and models for all these characters. The staff might all be in a uniform, but Williams goes out of her way so we know something about their personalities by how they wear their uniforms. Also, I loved Goldie Vance’s racing gear and that sad little mustache on Rob, the other valet. It’s extremely effective and exactly right, especially for the type of book we’re reading.
Hope Larson and Brittney Williams have crafted a charming and enjoyable opening installment in “Goldie Vance” #1. They give us a nice taste of the kind of story this comic wants to be, and do well in maintaining pace, humor, and intrigue. It does seem like they throw a lot in the air, and I’m hoping latter issues don’t have to cram a lot of material into their pages. But the book nevertheless is engaging, exciting, and full of wonder. We’ll be happy to stay at the Crossed Palms Resort for as long as it’s around.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Lots crammed in even if it feels like little progress has been made in the narrative, but nevertheless loaded with plenty of humor and charm to go around.
