Goldie Vance Issue #9
Happy Black history month and of course, Valentine’s Day!
Now, I’ll admit before starting this review, I wouldn’t have given this kind of comic a second look. However, when my eyes landed on the Boom!Box label, I had to look it up and it turns out B!B is indeed a branch of Boom! Studios which housed my newest love, the “Lumberjanes” series. So, why not give it a chance?
Jumping right into issue #9 with no prior knowledge to the earlier spreads, we’re introduced to Goldie Vance on her way from meeting a friend at the local soda bar. Then bam! A car peels into view and head on into Goldie’s bicycle, narrowly missing her. The bike is wrecked, the car stops a few yards off as Goldie assess her semi-busted helmet with some colorful, 60s slang.
Now, at this point, I’m really hoping this doesn’t turn into a ‘hunt for the crazy driver’. It doesn’t.
The driver peeks their head out to yell, “Are you alright kid?”. Goldie manages to stand and yell back, “Yeah” then the car peels off and she collects ol’ blue and heads home.
Here’s where my interest starts to peek a bit, when Goldie arrives home, heartbroken that her savings for her first car must go to another bike. Her father tries to cheer Goldie up with news of Prescription 1 drivers staying at his resort.
So, hold the phone. Our main character is not your average teeny boppers. She’s into, not just cars, but race cars. At this point, I would assume Prescription 1 qualifiers is a play on Formula 1 racing, due to copy write. For those not in the know, Formula 1 racing is a weekend long event where indie cars, professional test drivers and fans come together to see who can burn rubber the fastest after a series of test runs and qualifiers. Sometimes, a world record is broken. It’s the sport of true motor heads, besides illegal street races.
Without giving too much away, Goldie is later approached for a case by …Whom I would assume is an arch rival and possibly the Big Boss’ daughter, Sugar Maple.
Now, I got to talk about the vibrant color scheme being used for this comic, it's eye-catching and sets it apart from the typical mystery comics. That’s right, this comic is in the same realm as Nancy Drew, as playfully pointed out on the Boom! Box web page. But, GV has a kind of charm that’s uniquely created here.
The head writer, Hope Larson and head artist, Brittany Williams have said in many interviews that the goal to create as diverse a cast of characters as there were mysteries to be solved.
What’s nice about this series is that, even if you were starting into the series, you can read on from anywhere. There’s no need to read the previous issues, although it had a nice little nudge to peep issue #1 for backstory, during the street race with Skunk. Yes, Skunk is his name. Just look at his hair and tell me I’m crazy.
Goldie Vance is a nice read for all ages, which is surprising as I rarely see this happen in comics these days. It’s either, Hellboy/Spawn level adult language and gratuitous violence or somewhere around My Little Pony tame, but I can appreciate the slice of life genre as I did enjoy the Lumberjanes run. Plus, the old-school slang terms of 60s filter in every now then, had me in stitches.
Eventually, I’ll trek back to through to the first issue of Goldie Vance. But, for now, I’m looking forward to seeing where if the comic heads next.
If you’d like to see more from Boom! Box, check out their web page here:
https://shop.boom-studios.com/graphicnovels/detail/6906/goldie-vance-vol-1-tp
Follow them on Twitter or Tumblr (le gasp) for more independent goodies. I recommend Giant Days and of course, Steven Universe along with Grass Kings
