'Four high school girls who have problems fitting in decide to join forces and form their own club, which they feel will empower them to better face the world and their own individual problems. Their first goal is to get girl No. 5 to join them: Paloma, a troubled and anti-social teenager who's lived in more than fifteen foster homes since she was six. But before the Misfits can welcome Paloma into the fold, they must first get her to confront her difficult and tragic past.'
The Misfits Club For Girls is a new teen coming-of-age graphic novel series from Europe Comics that sees five young women who are outsiders and outcasts come together to form a friendship that will help each of them deal with their issues and live happier lives. At least, that's the plan.
The story begins with the focus of this volume, Paloma, arriving to live at her 15th foster home. Paloma has failed to find a place in any of the homes that have taken her in, and she expects that this one will fail for her too. She believes it so much that the first thing she does upon arriving is to set a fire in her bedroom. Fortunately for her, her new foster mother, Liselotte, takes it in her stride and doesn't let it bother her. She doesn't mind when Paloma refuses to eats with her, she doesn't say anything when Paloma wrecks the house. Paloma is sure that Liselotte is going to throw her out any moment. But then Liselotte makes her a deal, if Paloma can make a real friend within a year she won't get thrown out, and won't have to go into a group home.
The first year comes and goes without success, so she gets an extension. She gets another when she fails again, and another, and another. It's whilst in her fourth year living with Liselotte that she gets an email from the school informing her that she has to go to a mandatory tutoring session. When she arrives she finds four other girls from the school, other outcasts. There's Celeste, Sierra, Apoline, and Chelonia. It turns out Chelonia, who's something of a hacker, used her skills to get in the school system and look into the other girls, and faked the emails to get them all together. She's seen the way the five of them are treated by the other students, how sad and angry they are, and is sure that they can help each other. She proposes they become The Misfit Club For Girls.
Whilst the others are up for the idea Paloma is angry that they would try to be her friends and storms out. This leads to the club making getting Paloma to join be their first official action. They try talking to her inviting her to hang out, and whilst these plans and schemes bring the rest of them closer it doesn't convince Paloma. They know that they're going to have to take drastic steps to get her into the club, and so form a plan that will uncover some startling revelations.
I really enjoyed The Misfit Club For Girls. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it when it first began, mainly because Paloma is a really tough character to like at first; especially when she's being so mean to Liselotte, who is just wonderful. When the book introduced the other members of the group things got better, and it felt like a much needed injection of new and exciting energy. Whilst we don't get to know all of the group super well at this point I did like what I learnt. Apoline is a tall, Black lesbian who gets picked on for her sexuality, but is super confident in who she is and doesn't seem to let it bother her. Pretty early on we see her get a comment about being a 'dyke with big boobs' and it doesn't even phase her. She forms a connection with Sierra, who has pretty extreme emotional reactions to things, especially seeing her ex with new girls. Over the course of the book the two end up kissing more than once, and whilst Apoline is cool with it Sierra is clearly struggling with her identity and who she's attracted to. This is something I really hope comes up more in future volumes.
Celeste seems super quite, not really speaking much and avoids confrontation. She loves to read and tries to be nice to folks. There are a couple of moments throughout the book where she ends up turning up to the group with scrapes and cuts, and I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps this is setting up a future revelation of her being a victim of abuse at home, or possibly self harming. Whatever route her story goes, I'm super interested in seeing it. Chelonia is the member of the group that seems the most well adjusted. She doesn't appear to have any real issues to be dealing with, and has a good handle on her emotional state. Yes, she engages in some pretty illegal activity with her hacking, and has no sense of personal boundaries when it comes to looking into folks past; but she seems fairly okay. However, there is a scene where the girls visit her house and she tells them her mother died years ago, and her father is disabled and stays in his room. There's a moment where the book makes a point of showing us that there's only one toothbrush in her bathroom; so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out she's living alone and has no parents in her life.
But, the focus of this volume is Paloma; and over the course of the book we begin to understand why she's so angry, why she doesn't want to make friends with people, and how much Liselotte means to her. Her story was pretty interesting, and I enjoyed learning about her history and why she ended up the way she did. It was lovely to see her change over the course of the book too, learning that it's okay to open up to people and to start letting her guard down. There are developments towards the end of the book that means whilst her initial story here seems to be fairly resolved she'll be going through some big things going forward. I was surprised at how much the end of her story effected me emotionally, and I found myself tearing up at one point.
The art on the book, by Camille Mehu, is very pretty, and I really liked how the book looks. The art feels very soft, with minimal lines that are all really thin and precise. It felt kind of delicate at times. Each panel is filled with detail though, and every location feels lived in and full of things to look at. Each of the girls looks instantly unique too, with their own distinct looks and styles that mean you're able to identify them straight away on the page.
The Misfits Club For Girls: Paloma is a great start to this new series. It was a really entertaining and endearing introduction to these characters and this idea, and whilst it wasn't perfect it ended up entertaining me and delighting me throughout. With more of the group yet to focus on, and with the seeds of future stories already being planted here, I look forward to seeing what comes next.
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