A Graphic Year Week 16 or Finding My Way

This week I read Wayward written by Jim Zub. I got the first floppy at a signing by the writer and artist. It gave me a taste of this world and I liked it. I picked up the first trade at a recent trip to the comic book shop and I’m completely hooked.

Rory Lane is of Irish and Japanese descent and comes to live with her mother in Japan. Rory quickly figures out she’s part of a bigger, magical, mythical picture.

In the opening essay by Zack Davisson, he talks about how so many people use Japan as decoration. Wayward gets it exactly right. The city you see is Tokyo as it actually is and all of the creatures come from Japanese mythology. As an American who loves European fairytales, this was right up my alley.

I love seeing what artists and writers can do with existing tropes and mythos. Zub and co. struck an excellent balance between letting us see the mystery unfolding and different elements of the magic while leaving several questions unanswered.  I look forward to seeing what mysteries unravel.

I greatly appreciated the explanations of the culture and history behind the creatures. It added a lot of dimension to the world they built.  Japanese culture and American culture are very different on a lot of fundamental levels so the history and context was greatly helpful.

An added bonus is that Zub stopped by my comic shop but I couldn’t make the signing. Turns out he signed several of the trades at the comic shop including the one I picked up at random.  That definitely made my day.