In one of the year’s most effective, most moving graphic novels, DC’s Victor and Nora is released this week.

Victor Fries is seventeen, and a true science nerd. Brilliant, inventive, but the survivor of a deadly accident that he feels responsible for. Enter Nora Kumar. Lively, outgoing, When Nora and Victor meet, they get along like a house on fire! Okay, that was a bit much, but really, the two are meant for one another. However, Nora has an incurable disease. How will their love grow and survive when survival itself is the issue? This book gets deep and personal in the best way. It journeys past the cliches and tropes and has something fresh and wonderful to say.

Writer Lauren Myracle (New York Times bestselling author) gets it so right here. We see it, we feel it. The dialogue is almost tangible, it fits, it comes from the right person at the right moment. This is such a rare thing to read; dialogue that flows, that encapsulates when written, but appears effortless. The scenes are so strong, so apt, and cleverly orchestrated. Plot points arrive and visit, and never say goodnight. The visual and verbal mix and mingle in the very best possible way.

Artist Isaac Goodhart gives us the warmth and coolness factors of Victor and Nora but adds charm, attitude, and poses. The kids look like kids, their families, and their homes are nicely portrayed without cloying or overarching stereotypes. Goodhart is such a skilled illustrator that he is able to change styles for segments of the story; a school Powerpoint is done in animation style, fantasy sequences appear in black and white looking like a Tim Burton cartoon. Awesome.

I highly recommend this book. Victor & Nora: A Gotham Love Story: a moving tale about living life to the fullest and what it truly means to love…and to let go.

DC Victor & Nora: A Gotham Love Story, $16.99 for 200 pages of content. Young Adult rating

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!

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