Review by Frank Plowright

In 1984 world renowned adventurer Thomas Riley dies, which might seem rather a dark place for a young adult graphic novel to pick up, but that’s Victor Fusté’s choice. It’s actually near the start, as we’ve been shown Lizzie and Alex Riley adventuring with their Dad, while Lizzie’s narrative captions reveal she’s inherited her dad’s joy for life. What neither daughter knows, but readers see, is that their father has been murdered.

What follows is a journey of discovery for Lizzie and Alex as they learn more about their father’s recent activities, and find themselves the targets of some nasty Soviet agents. Can they survive such situations while getting to the bottom of a mystery their father was unable to solve?

Setting the story in 1984 is a puzzling choice as it doesn’t seem to have any great relevance, and it’s not something greatly exploited by artist Jared Cullum. Fusté includes some period references in the dialogue, but they’re forced, and why would any young adult reader of the 2020s want to know about Sam and Diane?

Cullum’s big-eyed and lively personalities resonate, but too much of the story is told by talking heads against a wash of watercolour. When there is a need for something more, Cullum’s storytelling can be muddy and confusing, and he doesn’t maximise the possibilities.

The strength of Wonder City is the characters, both as drawn by Cullum and written by Fusté, but too much else is written for the sake of convenience. A bar supposedly filled with New York’s most dangerous people just watches the Soviets kick off; the relationship between Lizzie and her former boyfriend never rings true, possibly because he’s only there for a couple of last second interventions; and as smart as she is, would Alex in a few hours find an object that eluded her experienced father for years? These questions will occur to young adult readers.

All in all the feeling is that Wonder City could have been so much better.