'A baby girl born with purple hair is promptly handed over to a convent by her horrified father, who fears she bears the sign of the witch. And indeed, little Evelyn seems to have strange powers and to attract supernatural manifestations as she grows up among the nuns, who patiently put up with it as best they can. But after one scary “trick” too many, she is entrusted to the care of a hat-maker, who whisks her off to London, where she will learn about much more than making hats! For as Evelyn and her talking cat Benedict will soon find out, Master Neil Farfadet has a few tricks up his sleeve, too, and his hat shop might not be exactly what it seems…'
Magic: The Girl With The Purple Hair is the first volume in a new series of children's graphic novels from Europe Comics that follows the adventures of Evelyn, a young girl raised in a convent to hide her magical abilities from the outside world, and what happens to her as she discovers more of what her powers hold.
The story begins quite dramatically, with men watching as a large estate burns in the distance. These men, it is revealed, are the 'law' of the land, and that they're burning this home, with its owner inside, because they're a witch. This version of Victorian era England, it seems, is home to many a witch; and that there are also still people around who will go out of their way to hunt them down.
Inside the burning building Melinda, the witch who lives there, is trying to perform one last spell; one that will allow her to leave this world before the fires kill her. As her cat companion, Benedict, watches, imploring her to try and escape instead, Melinda tells him to watch out for a new witch who will take her place as his mistress. Melinda leaves our world in a flash of magic, leaving Benedict alone.
Nearby, at the home of one of the men who helped to burn Melinda's home to the ground, a pregnant woman watches on, fearful for her friend who used her magic to help her and her husband conceive. A few months later, on a rainy night, the baby is born. The father is horrified to learn that he doesn't have the son he was hoping for, but instead has a purple haired daughter. Knowing that purple hair is the sign of magic, he takes the child away from her mother, and sends her away to a convent to be raised away from them, never to be seen again.
From here we skip forward several years to see the baby, now a mischievous young girl named Evelyn, and her best friend Benedict living amongst the kindly nuns. Evelyn is, as her father feared, a magical child, and causes trouble across the convent because of this; though not always on purpose. Despite trying her best, the magics begin to make issues for the nuns, and so they send for Mr Farfadet, a hat maker from London, to take Evelyn under his wing. Leaving the only home she has ever known, Evelyn faces an uncertain future.
This book was a genuine delight to read. The story is, despite its dark subject matter at times, a lot of fun; packed with humour and good natured characters who are mostly trying to do their best in the world. And as such, the moments where the story isn't really being moved forwards, where we're just spending time with the characters and seeing the weird things they get up to makes for some of the more delightful parts of the book.
Evelyn herself is a wonderful protagonist. She's full of energy and excitement, desperate to learn more about the world and to experience new things; even if she's not quite ready for that. She's naughty, but never malicious; getting up to small little pranks that don't really harm anyone. She is, in all honestly, a kid; and it's refreshing to have a child lead character who acts like a little kid.
Benedict proves to be a pretty good foil to Evelyn, being her opposite in a lot of ways. Where she's excitable he's grumpy, where she's eager to do new things he wants a quite life, and together they make for a pretty fun pair who spend much of their time bouncing off each other. There are hints that there may be more to Benedict than simply being a cat that Evelyn can understand, and this makes for an exciting prospect for future instalments of the series.
The book very much feels like a beginning, and much of the time is given over to setting up for future things. It's pretty clear even before opening the book, thanks to the wonderful front cover, that Evelyn is a little witch; so when the book takes its time building up to this revelation for her it's not a big shock for the reader; in fact it's something I was waiting for. But, the book isn't trying to do too much too quickly. Instead, it's happy to spend time letting the reader get to know the characters and build a sense of this world. As such, not a huge amount has happened by the time the book comes to an end; but it does leave us in an excellent position going forward into future instalments.
I can't talk about this book without talking about the absolutely gorgeous art. Audrey Molinatti provides the artwork for the book, and her work is stunning. I don't know how to go about describing the art other than cute, fun, beautiful, and just perfect for this story. The book has a style to it that feels its own, and it doesn't look like what most people will think of when they think of comics. The closest I can equate it to is that it sometimes made me think of a video game. There are a lot of fantastic independent video games that have this wonderful, animated look and feel to them; and this book feels like it could be one of them a lot of the time. The characters feel like they could suddenly start moving around like characters on a screen, and the small, fairly simply shaped bodies and overly large heads are definitely a part of this feeling. I doubt I'm doing the work justice in any real way; but I absolutely loved it.
Magic: The Girl With The Purple Hair is a great start to this new series; a book that takes its time setting up the world and the characters, letting the reader take their time with things before beginning the main story. The artwork and story work perfectly together, and the book has a look and feel to it that's so uniquely its own. I honestly believe readers of all ages will find a lot to enjoy with this one.
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