One of the best parts of doing interlibrary loan (besides having the god like power of summoning books from all corners of the globe 😃 ) is all the books, music, movies and tv shows you encounter because other people have asked for them. Andrew MacLean’s ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End of Times is an example of that. This graphic novel landed on my desk on its way to another library, and as soon as it went in the outward bound bin I put a hold on it. A few days ago it came back and I immediately tore into it. I’ll be the first to admit that the fact that it had a cat on the cover was a big selling point for me.

The story is about Aria and her sidekick and friend Jelly Bean the cat. They live under the decimated remains of a post-apocalyptic city. Aria has been on a six year mission to find a lost relic somewhere in the city. To do this she must confront the local natives, who are intent on making war on each other and anyone else who gets in their way, the natives’ hunting dogs (warning: if you don’t like bad things happening to animals you might want to give this one a pass), and giant robots with big feet.

The art work in this one is great. It has a jagged quality that goes well with the post-apocalyptic theme of the story. The frames of the ruined city itself are the best. Although the reader enters the story well into Aria’s mission, the author does a good job at hinting at things that have come before without giving too much away. Plus, there’s a lot about the mythology that has grown up since the collapse of the world. Oh, and Jelly Bean is awesome.

In short, if you get into post-apocolyptic graphic novels, this is one for you. By the end you’ll be wanting graphic novels for the previous six years of Aria’s mission.