Tomboy #11 Review
Story by Mia Goodwin
Art by Michelle Wong
Reviewed by Lorna Maltman (maltmanlorna@gmail.com)
It has been a long four months in between issue ten and eleven and this penultimate issue of Tomboy is just proof of why this has been my favourite series of the past couple years. To give a quick summary if you haven’t been reading, but you really should be, the main character is a teenage girl called Addison who had a horrendous birthday where she found out that her best friend had been killed. She then goes after the killers only to discover she has magic girl powers. A lot of other things happen, but I do not want to give away any spoilers.
In the last issue, all the main characters were converging on the courthouse and issue eleven opens with Addison’s father, Mark, arriving at the courthouse and confronting Addison’s accomplice in her vigilantism, namely, his father. Jump to the main antagonist – she gives us her motivations and her back story, but it never falls into the trap of being the evil villain expositing, as it brings weight to her character and is done whilst degrading the crooked DA. I won’t spoil the back story, but I will just say there were a few familiar faces from the series and, word of advice, do not get a blood transfusion from Ambridrex. This tell-all reveal leads to two of the most satisfyingly violent deaths in recent comics and optimises Addison’s character arc. The final pages of this issue are on the rooftop of the courthouse, which should be familiar if you have read this series, and what happens there in this issue left me shocked and wondering if Shakespeare was an inspiration for Goodwin.
Goodwin does a spectacular job of not shortchanging any character, but each has their moment in their issue. The actions that unfold are devastating, but they never feel forced by Goodwin, but only serve to show the character growth and arc, especially of Addison, who is far from the happy teenage girl we first met in this comic. Goodwin pulls on your emotions in this issue and continues to do what she has done throughout the series – blending magical girl, crime, and emotional beats into the issues to create a great comic.
Wong, who took over art duties halfway through the series, has, with ease, made his book a joy to read- the characters emote a whole range of emotions in just one panel and this issue is no different as, even though quite a few panels are the character with a plain background, with Wong’s art the character is more than enough. Add to this her brilliant use of colour, which gives insight into the scene unfolding on the page, and with Wong’s art and Goodwin’s story, you have a recipe for one amazing comic.
Verdict:
Buy!. I know I might sound hyperbolic in my praise of this issue and the series as a whole, but not enough people are checking out and reading this comic and the ending of this issue left me wanting the final issue straight away and, at the end of the day, is that not what a comic is meant to do -satisfy you but leave you wanting more from the world and characters? Pick up the trades and this issue and enjoy.
