Comic Review: New World (BOOM! Studios)

Let’s go back in time and place to the New World. It’s a BOOM!/Archaia original graphic novel, based in South America.

This original story (never before printed) is about the transition of first nations peoples in an isolated tribe in the jungle. Birds, animals, and a hunter-gatherer society. Along comes ‘white guy’ from Portugal, bringing greed, capitalism, slavery, exploitation, and disease. And organized religion.

An aboriginal (first nations) woman, an African slave, and a Portuguese sailor come together to seek revenge, freedom, and redemption. It’s their attempt to free the New World from the ‘darkness of the old’.

David Jesus Vignelli, (A Girl In The Himalayas, Planet Earth: For Sale) whose personal background includes a black mother with ancestors who were slaves, a white father whose forefathers came from Portugal and Italy, and some first nations peoples, has written and illustrated this graphic novel-sized saga.

There is a poetic rhythm to the telling. The colourful silent panels, the musical passages, the deceptively simple nature of the graphics, all contribute to the whole. It’s a long story, full of learning and legends. The land, owned by everyone, shared by plants, animals, birds, and humans. The mystical and legendary allegories float freely throughout this one, and to its benefit.

Well written, heartfelt and worth considering for its historical and dramatic story.

BOOM, Archaia imprint, New World, $16.99 for 160 pages of content. Assume Teen