Review by Karl Verhoven

In 1989 teenager Rhiannon lives in a rural trailer park retirement community with the elderly Aunt she refers to as Gran. She’s tall, slim and very pale, hates her name and the song she’s named after, her mother is dead and she doesn’t know her father. As the story begins she’s anticipating the annual summer arrival of Kit, grandchild of another resident, and the primary cast is completed by Elizabeth, granddaughter of another of Golden Homes’ inhabitants, and at sixteen older than the others and a new visitor. All three are pictured on the cover in the abandoned motorhome supplying their hangout.

Rhiannon is part of First Second’s list, and will therefore be categorised as a young adult graphic novel, compounded by the leading characters being young and featuring elements such as the secret that can’t be told to adults. Such is the underlying nuance and observation, though, it’s only going to be older teenagers who’ve experienced a little life who’ll fully appreciate a bittersweet coming of age story. It has more in common with Love and Rockets than The Baby-Sitters Club, although there’s a problem with Rhiannon being twelve. It’s around the age she has to be to experience the emotional turmoil the summer brings, but even accounting for her being smart and a voracious reader some of her diary entries transmit as too advanced for her age. Would a twelve year old write “Turns out I’m not too good on focussing on myself. I close my eyes and try to see just me, but instead I see Hank’s abandoned cactus”?

Put that to one side, though, as the remainder of Rhiannon is exceptionally well conceived. Her isolation, her growing curiosity about what she’s always taken for granted, her lack of stimulation and awareness of being attracted to Kit is so finely observed. It’s accompanied by some heartbreak, and not always from the obvious sources in a well plotted drama.

Sean Chiki breaks down the story so well, allowing for quiet, character-building moments, and conversations that have to take place. His art has much in common with European clear line comics as pioneered by Herge, with the flat colours underlining that, but there are also touches of modern stylists like Adrian Tomine apparent. It’s a quiet story, so action moments are scarce, yet it’s a testament to Chiki’s talents that a succession of ordinary interactions look so good. When there are moments of eccentricity such as an old lady on a bicycle, they’re really memorable.

Although Rhiannon takes the leading role, there’s not a character of substance who hasn’t changed in some way before the end and Kiara Brinkman’s writing has the emotional depth for readers to understand why they behave the way they do. Kit is the exception, bumbling along pretty happy without noticing much. Perhaps that’s a comment on teenage boys in general. A coyote provides a thoughtful metaphor, at home in the dark and a lone wolf.

The fear is of Rhiannon being in the wrong place, and of adults missing out on a finely observed drama because it’s marketed at teens. It’s masterful.