A comiXologist Recommends:
Mike Isenberg recommends
Sanity & Tallulah: Plucky Teen Girl Space Detectives #1
Last year at Small Press Expo, I ran into my co-worker Molly Brooks, who was exhibiting at the show. I asked her what her comic was about, and she managed to get out about five words, “Plucky Teen Girl Space Detectives,” before I enthusiastically shouted “SOLD!” and shoved some bills across her booth.
If those five words aren’t as instantly exciting for you as they are for me, let me add that Molly is an incredibly talented artist and storyteller.
Sanity and Tallulah, the comic’s titular characters, are two teenage girls on break from school, using their free time to travel around local space, clocking experience on Tallulah’s space-pilot learner’s permit by taking on basic courier jobs, doing some amateur salvage, and generally just exploring the world around them.
The story follows Sanity and Tallulah as they discover a distress beacon hidden amongst an asteroid belt. This leads them on an adventure involving a mysteriously-abandoned derelict warship and its robotic inhabitants.
The characters are wonderfully fleshed out. Tallulah is gung-ho for adventure and the joy of piloting her little bubble ship, while Sanity is eager for the adult responsibilities that come with the new-found independence they’ve been granted by Tallulah’s learner’s permit. The excitement that the characters take in their exploration is evident in the very first page, and reminded me perfectly of the summer after my friends and I all got drivers licenses. But, y'know, in space.
Speaking of space, the setting here is also surprisingly well fleshed out. Little details about the world are scattered throughout the book, subtly enough not to get in the way of the story while still developing a believable science-fiction setting alive with its own history and rules.
All of these elements join together with Molly’s beautifully expressive art to tell a gripping sci-fi adventure tale with some real peril and emotion. And really a lot of fun. Pick this one up!
[Read Sanity & Tallulah: Plucky Teen Girl Space Detectives #1 on comiXology]
Mike Isenberg is an Associate Production Coordinator at comiXology, and the co-writer of First Law Of Mad Science. He lives in Harlem with his cats, Tesla and Edison.