Helena Rose #1 Review: Blast Off Into a World of Color!
Anamaria Falcone ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
STORY BY: E.O. Levendorf
ART BY: Sonia Liao, Veronica Fish
PUBLISHER: EMET Comics
COVER PRICE: $4.99 (USD)
RELEASE DATE: Oct 14th, 2015
PREVIEW AVAILABLE: View it!
The genre of “intergalactic fairy tales” desperately needs to be more credited and expanded in our society. Sci-fi stories, whether in comics, television, or film, tend to be gritty in order to capture the danger and fearful wonder of space. EMET Comics’ Helena Rose breaks this tradition by adding spectacular color to a world we perceive to be filled with vast blackness. It’s a sci-fi comic for people who want to experience the mystical darkness of space in a whole new and colorful light.
Helena Rose, the title character, lives on the planet Flora on the Floridian Ring where everyone has a flower for a heart. The flower differs depending on what family they were born into. It’s easy to guess what kind of flower Helena was born with inside her chest. She was a stillborn, but was awoken by her mother’s kiss, and then placed inside a glass container before being given a helmet she must never take off. Helena lives a forced, sheltered life with her brother as her best friend until she is told some devastating news: she’s dying. However, with the help of her missing uncle’s robot companion, Helena has a chance to find a cure for her ailment among the stars. Thus, she blasts off to space to begin her journey for survival and search for adventure.
The most spectacular thing about this series is the coloring. Veronica Fish brings the drawings of Sonia Liao to life with every panel, making Helena Rose look like a pastel dream. There’s a beautiful mix of cool and warm colors on every page, making this comic a beautiful and aesthetically pleasing read. In addition, writer and creator E.O. Levendorf knows how to appeal to audiences who are either unfamiliar with or generally weary of the sci-fi genre in general. She does not confuse readers by throwing in too much information about the world of Helena Rose and provides a sufficient amount of background before diving into Helena’s story.
The absolute best part about this comic is that it has an all-female staff working on it—something very uncommon in this line of work. EMET Comics is a fast growing publishing company whose goal is to empower female writers and artists in the comic book industry, which has been and still is heavily run by males. By reading Helena Rose you’re not only discovering the beauty of intergalactic fairy tales, you’re also supporting women working hard for equality in the world of comics. Here’s hoping that more female comic creators will blast off and shoot for the stars like Helena Rose.
Rating: 10/10