All-ages stories have got to be one of the trickiest niches in comics. Done right, they’re all charm, something anyone can enjoy on some level or other. Done wrong, they’ve got the potential to disappoint that much broader an audience. This new ongoing from Image Comics is definitely in the first category; making the most of a solid emotional core and introducing us to an admirably cranky heroine, “Oddly Normal” is all heart – with a sprinkle of angst.
Written and Illustrated by Otis Frampton
Meet Oddly Normal, a ten-year-old girl with pointed ears and green hair–a half-witch who will be the first to tell you that having a mother from a magical land called Fignation and a father from Earth doesn’t make it easy to make friends at school! On her tenth birthday, she blows out her cake’s candles and makes a disastrous wish. Now, Oddly must travel to Fignation to uncover the mystery of her parents’ disappearance.
Most of the issue takes place within the confines of Oddly’s head – which is to say, we see her going about her day, encountering nothing extraordinary but densely narrating every moment with her troubled thoughts. It comes through quickly that Oddly is less than content with her situation. Name-called at every turn, and stuck with a pair of truly oblivious parents, she positively fumes her way through the issue. It’s a bold choice to have our heroine be this angry this early on; but one way or another, this cantankerous kid draws us in, getting us on her side.
It’s Frampton’s feel for facial expression that keeps matters grounded. Oddly does a lot more than just pout; a whole range of doubt and sadness and fear comes across in her expressions, belying her cynical narration. And while I had my doubts about Frampton’s art style on first looking over the issue – the bobble-headedness of the characters seemed to have the potential to be cloying – I found that this quality emphasized, without really ever standing out on its own, the emotional dimension of the story.
On the other hand, going to a normal school and trying to make normal friends when you’re anything but is bound to make a girl cynical before her time, and the touch of the smartass that comes through does its own part in making Oddly lovable. I don’t think I’m assuming too much when I say that most of us remember being malcontented kids at some point; and the rebelliousness of Oddly’s attitude is, well, oddly appealing.
On top of all that, a little pathetic fallacy certainly couldn’t hurt, and Frampton portrays the hell out of this rainy day. After the sepia tones of the school scene, the violet bleakness of Oddly’s rainy bus ride home is striking; the quality of the light as it filters through the bus window is enough to make you stop and rescan the page. Beautiful colouring work (with assists from Thomas Boatwright) complements the sense of place throughout the issue; the same goes for the well-chosen background details, like a patch on the seat of the bus, or the cobwebs in the corners of the family home.
In the end, one of Oddly’s problems is kind of a good problem to have: her parents are very much in love. Having them come across as such, at the same time as hopelessly out of step with their daughter’s wishes, is another neat bit of tightrope-walking that Frampton accomplishes. As Oddly gets home, Frampton keeps them out of the frame, instead invading her space with speech bubbles as they shout down the hall at her. Their dialogue is highly stylized, and they speak in turns, echoing each others’ cheery sentiments. The coup de grace is delivered when we finally see them: as they ask where Oddly’s friends are, their expressions betray a mixture of disappointment and boredom. It’s just the right note to spur on Oddly’s subsequent outburst, however extreme that outburst may be.
The issue follows a simple trajectory; what’s special about it is the way Oddly’s point of view becomes gradually more and more compelling. I can think of a million ways in which the issue could have gone wrong, and had us disliking Oddly as some bratty kid; but this chapter neatly sidesteps all of these, quickly immersing us in Oddly’s point of view and exposing just how difficult her role can be. Fundamentally, she’s a kid caught between worlds, and it’s this sense of isolation – of being stuck in a rainy, monotonous rut – that comes through more strongly that anything. This may make the world of the comic feel a little small to some, but overall, it has the air of a solid artistic choice.
In any case, the situation Oddly is in at the end of the issue opens up a whole new spectrum of possibilities, and seems to signal a shift in tone. Whatever awaits Oddly, it feels safe to assume that we’ll get out of her head a little more in coming issues. At of the end of this chapter, though, “Oddly Normal” already has given plenty to recommend about it: subtly expressive art, a compelling viewpoint, and some really good-looking rain.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – A dark, emotional, all-ages read.
