Zine Review:
Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate
This is the fourth and final sample in a series of comic books chronicling the adventures of two seafaring “girl pirates.” Published by Canadian zine stalwarts Kiss Machine, Violet Miranda is a professional black and white production that has been executed with a solid level of skill. The story is engaging, although I feel as if reading the early chapters in Violet’s saga may have been beneficial to my appreciation of this final instalment. Artistically, Violet Miranda reminds me of classic LucasArts computer game The Curse of Monkey Island; in fact, there are similarities–in concept and execution–to the entire Monkey Island series. One issue that came up throughout this comic book was the visual similarity between the two girl pirates and their nemesis John, which made the comic a tad difficult to digest. Still, as far as swashbuckling indie comics go, this is doubtlessly one of the more polished efforts. (Michael Tau)
comic, Emily Pohl-Weary & Willow Dawson, #4, $4, www.kissmachine.org/violet, [email protected]