BooksOfTheMoon

The fourth volume of the most excellent webcomic picks up the story at the start of Annie’s third year at the eponymous school, having returned from a summer spent in Gillitie Wood. Her first task is to make up with Kat, who doesn’t know how to deal with her running away at the end of the previous volume. This volume sees existing relationships between familiar characters deepen and new ones formed.

Robot appears to be becoming somewhat obsessed with Kat, but not so much that he doesn’t form a close relationship with Shadow; Kat seems somewhat confused, but not so much that she doesn’t start translating the evolved programming of the Court robots; and as for Annie, well, we get to see some of the fire buried within her as she attempts revenge on Jack for the spider incident in the previous volume and a little more of her relationship with her father.

There’s a weird chapter that I had forgotten about where she is in a coma and Zimmy helps her out. There’s a lot of foreshadowing going on there, and I can’t help but feel that her father is somewhere at the heart of it.

At the time of writing, this is the last paper collection of Gunnerkrigg Court, so I’m reduced to following it, three pages a week, online, which, given the pace of the storytelling, is grindingly slow. I can’t wait for the next volume now, although given that this one was only released this year, it could be some time away yet.

Volume three of Gunnerkrigg Court picks up the story of Antimony Carver and her friends at the eponymous school mid way through her second year through to the end of the year, culminating in a row and a blaze of revelations. The story of the Court, and of Annie, start to gather pace a bit and we learn more about Annie, seeing more into her character. Having read the webcomic and coming back to read the hard copy, I see things that I missed the first time, things that were set up early, in passing, and come back to be important later on.

Annie’s best friend Kat continues to grow as well, with revelations regarding the beginning of the Court and its genius inventor hitting her hard. Seeing her dealing with this, and her growing importance to the robot community of the Court is lovely.

I continue to love the art, the story and the characters of this comic (Parley and Andrew in particular are really sweet). Reading the whole thing in graphic novel form condenses it and makes it even better. And I also continue to be impressed with the quality of the physical object. The hardback is physically solid, with high-quality, glossy paper that really makes the story come alive.

As always, highly recommended.

The second collected volume of Tom Siddell’s marvellous webcomic follows Antimony Carver’s second year at Gunnerkrigg Court, after a summer where her father failed to contact her. She and Kat soon fall back into their old ways, finding a robot shrine, sneaking out in the middle of the night to watch Science, meeting the denizens of Gillitie Forest and more.

We also learn more about Annie’s history, her mother, and her powers, as Kat’s mother starts to teach her to use her innate powers, and to start training to potentially take over her mother’s former role as medium to the Forest.

The first volume could feel a bit bitty at times, but in this second one, the story is firmer, the art is improving under your eyes and the characters remain as true to themselves as they ever were.

We get to find out some of Reynardine’s history (and he cemented himself in my heart from the moment that he chased off the bullies mocking Annie and Kat, early in this volume), more about the ghost at the bottom of the chasm, more insight into Zimmy and Gamma and much more. The first volume was entitled ‘Orientation’, which seemed right. Now we know the characters and Siddell is showing us more about them, and making us care for them.

Volumes three and four have already been ordered, and I await them impatiently. Even though I’ve already devoured the webcomic, I want to read them again. I find it frustrating even reading through webcomic archives: it took me a week or more to get to this stage in the archive, while I read the first two volumes on paper in an afternoon.

This beautiful hardback volume tells the story of young Antimony Carver’s first year at her school, the eponymous Gunnerkrigg Court, collected from the marvellous webcomic. A strange place, blending magic with high technology, Antimony sets out making friends, building robots and meeting gods and spirits, some of whom try to kill her.

Any lingering comparisons with boy wizards going to school in magical castles are soon dissipated: Gunnerkrigg Court is far more interesting than Hogwarts. The first volume focusses very much on Annie and her best friend Kat, along with the spirit Reynardine. Their blossoming friendship is a lovely thing to watch developing, and the mystery surrounding the Court, Annie’s parents and the forest on the other side of the chasm is built up slowly, with just enough answers being drip-fed to avoid too much frustration.

The art is beautiful, with a manga-esque twist to it, that emphasises the humour. The lines are bold and cartoony, and match the storytelling perfectly. The only thing that I could wish for is for Mr Siddell to work faster!