LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Meg Chancellor's world is falling
apart-her mother has walked out, her father's best friend Cal is sexually
abusing her younger sister Annie, and her father will do nothing about any of
it. So Meg finds a new online world of paladins and princesses where she can
become the hero she needs in real life. Eventually, the two worlds come
together, with Meg taking control and finding hope. Grayson's (<i>Batman</i>)
parable first appeared as a GLAAD Award-nominated Vertigo miniseries in 2001 and
is set in the mid-1990s when <i>MUD</i> (<i>Multi-User Dungeon</i>) role-playing
games became popular. Meg and Annie are the most multidimensional characters,
both fighting their way through their problems in different ways. Bolton's
(<i>The Books of Magic</i>) masterly gray-scale brushwork with only touches of
color depicts the “real” world, while Phillips's (<i>Criminal</i>)
blocky, vividly colored fantasy art creates the online realm as a confusing yet
compelling place. VERDICT This coming of age that can happen at any age reveals
our heroine finding power and peers while exploring her own gender fluidity.
Seekers age mid-teens and up will empathize and learn from her
quest.-MC<br /><br /><br />

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED --
This sumptuous hardcover is set in the early digital
age of the 1990s: the World Wide Web is text-based, access is via dial-up modem,
phone bills are outrageous, and intrepid users create and push boundaries to
define this new frontier. Meg Chancellor, a disaffected 20-something still
living in her deeply dysfunctional family home, obsessively latches onto a
fantasy RPG chat room where she reinvents herself as the fearless and chivalrous
paladin, Sir Guillaume de la Coeur. Gender norms, conventional sexuality, and
identity barriers are thrown out the window as she explores her character,
adventures, and comrades-in-arms, but painful realities challenge her to
confront the tension between her personas. Originally published as a three-issue
series in 2001 by Vertigo, this compilation contains gorgeous art and coloring
by Bolton (Shame) and Philips (Kill or Be Killed). The real world is depicted in
a photorealistic moody monochrome while the online realm is enchanting and
vibrant with prismatic color. Although Meg is sometimes unsympathetic and
over-the-top, Nightwing writer Grayson's fast-paced and relevant coming-of-age
drama brings alive the passion, promise, and compassion inspired by the budding
online world. (May)<br />