Publisher’s Summary:
“A young boy named Colby Reynolds searches for meaning in the world around him and discovers a place where dreams can come true – if he’s willing to pay the price! Along the way he’ll see sights he’s never fathomed and encounter hidden truths about himself he’ll wish he never knew.”
Makeshift Miracle is an online graphic novel recently published in a gorgeous hardcover edition. And it’s because of the fact that, if you were of a mind to, you could just click over to read it for yourself that I’m going to keep this post short and to the point. (One note on the web version: it is not yet complete. Four of the six chapters are currently available with new updates added to the site on Mondays and Fridays.)
There’s one reason why you might want to consider borrowing the book from a library – or purchasing a copy, if you prefer – and that’s because the art is so lovely, so dreamy, that you might want to run your fingers across each and every smooth page, taking in the color as it melts into another shade under your fingertips. The color palette, soft and occasionally muted to highlight a change in scene or landscape, was one of my favorite things about the art, which, since I’m going on about it, was my favorite thing about the book.
As for the story…there’s not much to it or, for that matter, all that much happening in this first volume. We meet Colby and Iris, find out next to nothing about the latter (mostly because ‘the girl from nowhere’ seems to be suffering from selective amnesia), and a third character bursts on the scene about whom we know nothing (other than the fact that he’s searching for Iris and is clueless when it comes to all things Earth). The elements are interesting if completely and unfortunately underdeveloped. Here’s to hoping the story picks up and strengthens in the next volume!
Image credit – Click on either to make larger (naturally).
Wow–all I had to see was the cover art and I’m hooked! But yes, a strong story is also needed if they don’t want to lose the reader.
That seems to be the most insistent problem – when I encounter one – in graphic novels: either the story or the art lets the other down. The illustrations in this book were incredibly lovely, but the story had no substance to speak of. Well, there’s always the next volume! (And I will come back for one more to see if there’s improvement on that front.)