I wanted to give Mari Costa another chance after very much disliking 'Life of Melody'.
Now I will not read any more of her works.'Belle of the Ball' has pretty similar themes to 'Life of Melody' - terrible characters in seriously unhealthy relationships, doing terrible things to each other. Manipulation, threats (including death threats to an underaged drunk girl, from her love interest! ), bullying, physical assault, narcissistic and self-indulgent undermining of others' wants and needs, coercion, sudden "romantic" trips that can easily be read as kidnapping, victim blaming - these red flags and more are present. All of which get glossed over and forgotten about as soon as they rear their ugly heads. Details, such as side characters and plot threads, that are dropped in and abandoned right after they're introduced, plus a few odd and contradictory lines of dialogue, are other things 'Belle of the Ball' shares in common with 'Life of Melody'.
If it wasn't bad enough, in 'Belle of the Ball', these issues are conflated in a love triangle, and it is framed so that one relationship is presented as "less toxic" in comparison to the other, and therefore is the favoured OTP. It doesn't work like that - it's all toxic and horrible! I know the characters - all three of them, Hawkins, Chloe and Regina, who form said love triangle, and so are the only ones that matter, and who are given names - are teenagers and no one is perfect, but the messed up things they do and say here shouldn't be normalised! I'm shocked that this is indeed a 2023 story.
And almost every review I've read calls it cute and fluffy!
Maybe people would've noticed the obviously abusive tendencies more if the leads weren't all girls? The LBGTQ direction doesn't magically make it all okay.
Granted, there are some cute little moments and touches, like with the timid, nerdy tomboy Hawkins and her secret girly, Magical Girl-loving side, but they do not and should not negate how unlikeable and venomous Chloe and Regina are to her, and how they are to one another.
The comic's stylised palette of pink, white and darker colours and tones is okay, if not really fitting its darker underbelly, for there is not much that is actually rosy to be found. I am creeped out and disturbed whenever the characters are drawn off-model, with wide cartoony eyes, in "intense" moments - it's jarring. That kind of OTT goofy and unsettling artwork works in comics like 'Creepy Cat' because it's of the horror comedy genre, and it's supposed to get under your skin and make you feel slightly unnerved. It does not gel with "adorable" romantic comedies supposedly designed to make you go "aww"!
Also, I swear I never, ever want to see Chloe's smug, grinning, condescending, highly punchable facial expression again. Also also, about the Belle of the title? We never see her attend any kind of big ball, or a prom, for that matter, apart from snapshots at the very end, where she isn't highlighted to be anyone special. Like nearly everything else, it's glossed over. What a waste, and false advertisement.
In conclusion, I do not like 'Belle of the Ball', because I believe it perceives abusive, disrespectful relationships in a positive, "happily ever after" light, intentionally or not. I find it to be far from "cute". That and the bizarre artistic choices with characters' facial expressions. Not much of a plot or stakes, either: it's all about the high school love triangle, where the three leads are literally the only players that matter; who appear for more than a few pages.
The graphic novel disturbed me, and didn't succeed in getting me out of my current slump and depression. Oh well.
Final Score: 2/5
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