Graphic Novel Friday: Slow Storm

Every Friday, Omnivoracious will turn the spotlight on one or more graphic novels, with future installments also including news and special features. You can let me know who or what you'd like to see featured by commenting on this post. (In October, Graphic Novel Friday will return to its normal weekly schedule.)

A female firefighter and a Mexican illegal named Rafi form an unlikely bond in the aftermath of a storm-burnt barn in Slow Storm by Danica Novgorodoff. The book juxtaposes the present-day of rural Kentucky with Rafi's memories of Mexico. Novgoroff excels at showing the alienation of both main characters against a backdrop of sullen, moody clouds and fields. Both the Kentucky landscape and the Mexican landscape have a simultaneously rich and barren quality that Novgoroff's nuanced watercolor approach brings to the fore with aching beauty.

In the few gestures these characters exchange as they pass on their way through different journeys, Novgoroff has captured as much or more as any novel or movie. Clearly a contender for best graphic novel of the year.