Graphic Novel Review - 'Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter' by Brea Grant (Writer), Yishan Li (Artist)

'Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter' is a very weird comic. Too weird; almost disconnected, despite taking place in the real world, where monsters also exist, but in (poor) secrecy. It's a bit like the magical realism genre of fantasy.

And yet, substantially it is much more exciting, creative, action-oriented, solid, and grounded in reality than in any magical realism story I've read. It is engrossing and engaging; in that you want to keep reading to see what happens next to these outcast characters, who are memorable and distinct, and how things will progress. It's dark, but it's a YA comic, so it's not particularly gory - a feat considering it has the protagonist stitching up body parts as part of her development. I kind of love it, with its long-ass title and all.

Or maybe I'm just soft on goth girl protagonists.

Mary is sixteen-years-old, but is already pressured by the female members of her family to become a famous author like them, as the long and proud legacy of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley dictates. Her grandmother writes cookbooks, her aunt writes biographies of obscure women in history, and her mum writes a successful series of crime novels starring her self-insert as the lead detective (I swear Tawny Shelley has an extreme case of narcissistic personality disorder; aside from her writing obsession, and talking about her namesake fictional character constantly, she rigidly sees Mary only as an extension of herself and her success).

The poor girl is under A LOT of pressure; has A LOT to live up to.

The heaping nightmare only ascends when various monsters suddenly enter her life, wanting to be healed by her. For Mary is a monster healer and reanimator, like the original Mary Shelley, and other Shelley women before her. (Her skill is also half-learned from her father, who is a doctor). Also there are demons who can possess any human, animal, and any inanimate object, and who want to kill her.

Mary can't be dealing with this pressure too! Her life is turned upside down overnight. But perhaps, this business of healing and helping others - no matter how weird and what they look like - is Mary's true calling, instead of writing. Her namesake ancestor seemed to have balanced both destinies well, at any rate. As typical an apathetic and rebellious teenager as she appears to be, young Mary is more caring, level-headed, intrepid and talented than she realises.

'Mary' is like 'Buffy', and other shows like it; only with less fighting and killing, and more healing monsters in need. "Monster Mash" comes to mind, as well.

A romance with a two-hundred-year-old zombie guy named Adam (well, it's less cliché than a vampire love interest, I suppose), who also serves as the explanation/exposition plot device à la Giles; a harpy named Polly looking after a mysterious giant egg; Mary Shelley's anatomy notebook; a green pendant inscribed with the Shelley quote, "The beginning is always today."; a woman from Victorian times with half her face missing; cute white wolves; little octopi, and tentacles; Mary's only mortal friend from school, Rhonda, a fat Black girl with a secret of her own; and possessed rats and giant possums - all combine to make 'Mary' a fun comic to read, as part of devouring feminist Halloween stories, which are few in number.

Not sold yet? Shirley Jackson is in this too - as a spirit inhabiting a cute little stuffed bunny rabbit, that keeps getting ripped apart. Told you: feminist Halloween!

Really, I believe that 'Mary' can be enjoyed for what it is if given the chance, and with a certain kind of mindset. It is more cute and funny than scary, but I don't mind. A strange lacking of a Frankenstein's monster, not to mention LBGTQ rep, is noticeable. But again, I mind not, for the comic is enjoyable as it is.

The themes of "Believe in Yourself" and "Walk your own path/Make your own choices in life", are told in an original and interesting way. The artwork is beautiful, colourful, supple, and just the barest minimum of cartoony, making it widely appealing. The characters, rather unrealistic and too-calm reactions to the supernatural existing aside (by way of an explanation, they say they're good in a crisis, so...), are well-rounded and likeable, and the art conveys their emotions and thoughts through facial expressions brilliantly.

Besides, some of the narrative, dialogue and character oddness could be attributed to Mary, as the narrator, not being a very good writer and storyteller, as she keeps asserting throughout. If that was intentional - Mary's self-awareness and genre-savviness make a strong case for it - then it's a clever meta device. Or an excuse for bad writing, whichever viewpoint you ascribe to.

Who knows what further adventures might await Mary, the goth girl with healing powers who is now excellent at biology? Who is now a friend to monsters. There is still the demons-pact-broken-and-they-want-to-kill-Mary-and-take-over-the-world problem to contend with.

You can do it, Mary! You can help people in your own style, and as befits your unique character. The great feminist and horror pioneer Mary Shelley would be proud of you.

Remember, "The beginning is always today."

Final Score: 3.5/5