November review for Book Riot's Read Harder 2018: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, 2015. [comic drawn and written by the same person]Nimona is so many things I've always wanted in a graphic novel. Scrappy girl protagonists, magic, upending of the dichotomy of good and evil, magical bureaucracy, and shapeshifting! Plus Noelle Stevenson, the author/artist is like, the coolest (and now she has made She-Ra on Netflix, which is equally rad).
Nimona comes to Sir Ballister Blackheart as a new sidekick and pretty much throws a wrench in all of his plans. Sir Ballister is pretty much the top dog in a magical world that blends magic and sci-fi tech, and he never really gets much done until Nimona shows up. He has to try to teach is protege restraint (she always wants to go around killing people and setting things on fire, which is a bit too far for the cerebral villain Sir Ballister. Nimona is a fiery little girl with a butch haircut and a big mouth who also happens to be a shapeshifter! How incredibly cool would it be to be Nimona?
Nimona and Ballister go on missions, quibble about the level of villainy that is acceptable, and slowly become close. The Good Guy Brigade (I mean, the Institute) employs Ballister's archnemesis, the hero Goldenloin, who has some serious history with our villain. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about the less-good things about the Institute, Goldenloin gets more and more disillusioned with his job sitch, and Ballister and Nimona burrow their way into each others' hearts, and of course the inevitable happens, where they hurt each other and leave, but Sir Ballister works to find her again, and set things right. Nimona deals with such heavy shit in such a completely understandable and accessible manner, even though it is sci-fi, and it is going to be a classic for a long time.
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| Nimona in a nutshell |
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