'Their first mission was successful and Paloma, the troubled foster care teen, is adjusting to a more empowered life in a happier home setting, but now the Misfits Club for Girls has a new project: find out who has been sending shy, withdrawn, bullied Celeste nasty text messages that shatter her sense of self-worth. One of the Misfits is a computer whiz who can hack into just about any system, but what she finds out comes as a shock nobody could have possibly anticipated...'
So, it turns out some of my predictions for what was going on with some of the other characters in The Misfit Club For Girls were slightly off the money, but some of them landed pretty close to the mark, and one in particular in a surprising way that I wasn't expecting.
Having helped Paloma overcome some of the trauma in her past, and encouraged her to give being their friend a try, the Misfit Club For Girls have decided on their next big job, helping Celeste. We were introduced to Celeste in the first volume as a quiet, withdrawn kind of girl, one who's happy to let the others take the spotlight and lead. This volume opens with her walking to school, and it's immediately apparent that something's not right for her. The neat and vibrant art that Camille Mehu usually brings to the series is jagged and messy looking, presented in greys with Celeste herself being the only source of colour on the panels.
This is how Celeste sees the world most of the time. It's grey, it's drab, and she's alone in that vastness. At least, she's alone until a couple of bullies meet her at the school gate and give her some abuse. Luckily, Apoline is there to step in and scare the bullies off. Celeste brushes it off as nothing though, and carries on with things. We keep following her as the day progresses, watching as she keeps getting text messages and withdrawing into her grey world. We also learn that the source of her cuts is that she has to sneak out of her house to be able to be with her friends at night, and activity where she can't escape the messages and the effect they have on her. We discover that the messages are coming from a stalker, one who is sending her abuse, tearing her down and leaving her with little self worth.
When Apoline encourages Celeste to tell the group about the two school bullies she also comes forward with the information about her text stalker and the abuse he's been sending her. Whilst this shocks the group they all agree that it needs to end, and come together to find out who it is, and stop them.
I wasn't really sure what direction the series was going to be taking Celeste in, though I suspected due to her withdrawn nature that it would touch upon depression in some way. And this volume very much did that, even if it didn't go into great detail about it. There were no moments when the character turned round and said 'I'm depressed', but she didn't have to because you could see it. The world she withdraws into, where everything is grey and jagged, where her friends fade away felt like how I remember depression effecting me when it was at its worst. You could be surrounded by people you love, having fun, but then you'd feel yourself fading out of it, slipping into a cold, empty feeling world where even if you were in a crowd you'd feel alone. I think the team working on this book really managed to capture the essence of that well, to the point where I instantly knew Celeste was suffering without it needing to be stated in words.
Because of the kind of person Celeste is this volume didn't feel completely like her story, not to the degree that the previous one felt like it centred on Paloma. As such, the other characters were given a bit more to do, and we get some other development for them. There wasn't much from Apoline or Sierra, and other than one brief mention nothing really happens with their developing relationship. There is a small mention of Sierra's ex and what he might have done to make her so angry about him all the time. I think that this, much like the clues in the previous volume, might be setting up for what's to come, and I wouldn't be surprised to see us learning more about Sierra and her ex in a future volume.
The one who got the most to do, outside of Celeste, was Paloma. It didn't feel like the writer was giving her new stuff, however, as it really felt like the natural next step in her story from the developments that she went through towards the end of the last volume. It was more of an epilogue to how her spotlight volume ended, and it felt right to be included her. Chelonia takes on a similar role to the last volume, with her using her computer skills to move the plot forward, and taking a proactive approach to helping Celeste when she needed someone to be there for her. She's definitely fallen into the leader or mother figure of the group, and seems to be happy to get involved and help her friends, even if she is doing it in illegal and questionable ways. We also get an answer to what's going on with her father; and that's one I actually did predict!
This volume felt quite different to the last, I think it went to some darker places, and explored themes and ideas that felt a lot heavier. Many of us will have dealt, or will have to deal depression in our lives. It's something that can happen to anyone. And I think bullying and harassment is something a lot of people can also say they've been through. They're not easy topics to talk about, and whilst this book didn't do anything groundbreaking it did tackle a difficult thing with care. I also found that I've come to really like and care for these characters, so enjoyed just spending more time with them.
I'd already mentioned some of the art that Camille Mehu did on this book, talking about the way that they made Celeste's depression look. It was surprising how different the book felt when this was happening, how different it was from the rest of the book. Mehu has such a neat, clean, and beautiful art style that as soon as that changes slightly it feels wrong. Mehu used the art to tell a story in ways that comics don't always do, and it worked brilliantly.
With two volumes of this series read now I can say without hesitation that I've become a big fan of it. I enjoy the characters, I'm invested in their stories, and I want to see what happens next with them. Here's hoping volume three comes soon.
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