Review by Frank Plowright
Moonstruck opens in a coffee shop where Julie has been on one date with Selena, but is convinced it’s love, with a shared joy in the Pleasant Mountain Sisters books a weighty touchstone. You won’t have heard of the Wilson triplets and their propensity for both finding trouble and solving it in their small community, but Grace Ellis makes their adventures an integral part of Moonstruck, to the point of involving second artist Kate Leth for a page a chapter.
Shae Beagle draws the main cast, bringing an assortment of unusual people to life in neatly delivered surroundings via attractive digital cartooning. Her talent for visually defining people is apparent on the charming cover, and she’s exceptionally good with Julie. Even among what seems to be an accepting and tolerant community Julie has a secret, and Beagle brings through an inner sadness while colourist Caitlin Quirk supplies additional atmosphere. Other than the colour, Beagle’s the complete cartooning talent, her action scenes flowing and funny.
Opportunities provided by a fantasy setting take some time to manifest, but in the meantime Ellis has subtly ensured we know who a fair bunch of folk are. Julie’s fellow barista Chet is a type of character puzzlingly loved in American comedies. Imagine a cocaine-fuelled Robin Williams always on, so brash, irritating and intrusive, the type of exaggerated personality no-one would put up with for five minutes in real life, and yet the person whose problems prompt the plot. It’s a funny situation that’s well exploited in all respects.
The idea of incorporating in-story pages from Julie’s favourite books doesn’t work because there’s no real commitment, and that’s possibly because there’s a rapid realisation of it being a one-note joke. Otherwise Ellis ensures the largely sympathetic cast settle into the roles of friends. However, anyone wanting a logical plot is going to be disappointed. The problems are intriguing, but very random and everything is conveniently sorted by the end, indicating it’s characters that matter to Ellis, not what they do. The series continues with Some Enchanted Evening.
