Review by Frank Plowright

The young adult market is overloaded with fiction about the terrors of starting a new school, so even acknowledging every graphic novel can be someone’s first graphic novel, it takes something special to stand out. The Girl and the Glim stands out.

It’s the art that first catches the attention, busy, rich in character and emotion, intensely detailed and extremely imaginative in an animated style. Bridgette, the star of the show, is drawn to appeal, wide-eyed, petite and charming, while the world she finds herself in is richly creative. All that’s down to India Swift’s art, but application of digital colour from Michael Doig gives Bridgette’s world a vivid primal crackle.

Starting a new school is only the beginning of Bridgette’s journey into the unknown, which expands far further than most as for some reason she has an affinity for a well intentioned small form of alien life. That’s the Glim, seen in Bridgette’s hands on the cover, and able to activate electrical devices as it leaps around. Unfortunately, as also seen on the cover, the Glim is massively outnumbered by its opposites, known as Glums. They’re an artistic triumph on Swift’s part, and when they fully manifest the art jumps from great to amazing in a sequence of manic energy.

Swift’s story strikes all the right notes as well, building gradually into an unstoppable joy. She follows the rule of always leaving the punters wanting more, and there are enough mysteries unsolved to carry into the delayed continuation. When is it due?