Carla Speed McNeil

The skill with which Carla Speed McNeil weaves the world of Finder never ceases to amaze me. Every installment in this series brings out new information, new cultural information, and elaborates upon old characters that we may only have met for a second three volumes before. McNeil's imagination is vast, and I feel truly blessed to be given the chance to delve into it through these volumes.

Unlike previous volumes, Voice focuses more heavily upon the Llaverac clan and the way in which one show more becomes a full member of it. Rachel is the focus, much as Marcie was the focus of Talisman and the Llaverac beauty pageant is something that would put Toddlers in Tiaras to shame. The questions of beauty, of authenticity, and of personal identity are all delved into.. as are certain questions of societal mores. The footnotes that I love so in these comics also have grown more confident, and elaborate.

Also: how can't you love a comic book that questions why society is increasingly finding it all right to wear underclothes as normal day to day clothing (i.e. t-shirts.)? I love that she thinks of these things. show less

Probably one of the sharpest, most savage and on-the-nose comics out there at the moment, also the most firmly grounded - its horrors feel real and mundane, from a bus plunging off a mountain road to a pack of coyotes attracted by the smell of dead bodies to someone taking a drink downriver from a pair of rotting buffalo carcasses, and all the more unmanageable and difficult to overcome because of that. A mixed group of US students on a trip to remote village in South America to build homes show more and a school as part of an pre-freshman programme for Princeton. They're varying degrees of rich and pampered, but when their bus crashes far from help they have to become survivors. Nearly every decision, smart or stupid, makes things worse, and the presence of a large quantity of drugs on the bus and rumours of political unrest and bandidos in the hills suggests that many of their perils won't be just of the order of hungry animals and steep cliffs.

It's a brilliantly brutal thriller, initially cartoony and colourful, later dark and sinister and desperate. The bus crash is only going to be the start of their troubles. Congratulations De Campi and McNeil. You've brought genuinely sickening tensions and suspense to comics in a way I haven't seen before. show less

It's been five years since I've read a Finder book, but the second I opened this one I was immediately sucked back into Carla Speed McNeil's fantastically drawn and written world of clan intrigue and aboriginal culture. The most shallow of the Grosvenor sisters, Rachel, takes center stage in a coming of age tale as she competes in a beauty pageant to earn full citizenship in the Llaverac Clan, which places high value on looks, fashion, and gender ambiguity. When a mugging separates her from show more the ring she needs to prove her qualification to compete, she sets out on a search through the seamier sections of the city for an old family friend, Jaeger, who might be able to track down the ring for her. Hissy fits, adventures, and personal growth ensue.

And after the story, McNeil treats us to an in-depth writer's commentary with over a dozen pages of notes, explaining page by page how people and scenes fit into the tremendous tapestry of world-building that they have done over the years. This is the ninth book in the series, so it is obviously not a great place for new readers to begin, but I highly encourage everyone to seek out the early collections. Most are available in two big Finder Library omnibuses. show less

Finder Volume 1 Review:

Sometimes the inability to easily synopsize a work is a sign that it's not being clear. But that's not the case here. It feels like Carla Speed McNeil (CSM) is telling exactly the kind of story they want to tell.

Some general notes? It's set in a distant future, where much of history has been forgotten. There's high-tech computers, and there are itinerant traders riding enormous pseudo-dinosaurs, probably part of a kind of genetic manipulation experiment in the past. show more There are people with animal features; there are lion people. Very little of this is explained, it's simply presented as part of the world... you just accept it and move on.

The title: Finder is a role or group in this world, but we only learn about it obliquely. One of the main characters, Jaeger, is one, but he doesn't talk about it much.

I've heard that this is a work exploring indigineaity, though by setting this in an unexplained future, CSM avoids trying to take any particular tribe's stories inside this narrative, which is probably for the best.

This aspect of the book itself isn't delivered directly, but it is present. There is a kind of quiet wisdom of both the book and it's characters, and this feels drawn from the traditions CSM is connecting to.

CSM is a storyteller focused on the characters and lived-in nature of her world. As strange as it all is, the characters feel so naturally fit within it. The feeling is that the story happens to be observing the moments in the lives of these characters, instead of something deeply orchestrated as part of an overt plot.

Jaeger as a character is a great example. We follow him through much of this volume but I hesitate to call him a 'main character' so much as one we happen to be following... his reluctance to explain himself or his choices helps us lean deeper into the world because we want to know more about how everyone else interacts with him.

I will also note that Jaeger became something of a personal inspiration while reading this. Not fully, because the life he lives is too far beyond where I'm comfortable, but there is a calm and focus this character has, and a sense of living in a very present, mindful experience. As someone who often gets lost in overthinking and being distant, trying to channel a little of that element of his character really helped me.

I haven't even talked about the art... CSM's art is stunning. All rendered in black and white, it is by turns incredibly detailed (with lots of cameos and references buried in the backgrounds) and very simple. The characters are incredibly distinct yet with minimal linework. Part of the setting involves whole clans of people who look alike, and CSM's ability to both represent this WHILE making important characters be instantly recognizable is very impressive, and probably deceptively hard to do.

Much like my note about their skills as a storyteller, the art is such that it tries to avoid getting in the way of the narrative. It's a simple style, elegantly used to create a lot of expression, but never so expressive as to clumsily guide the emotions of the audience; always to help us get deeper into the story and world.

I think making a book like this takes a lot of work: thinking through all the characters, how they fit, the details of the world, etc. and then the artwork, representing all these details and qualities with a detailed craftsman's touch. It's the kind of work of a modelmaker, trying to get every detail perfect, so that it seems it could turn alive when you turn your back. The work is clear, but it doesn't feel overwrought or too much, like they're dragging you through every detail they've thought up. It's that every bit of that effort feels like someone who cares deeply for their world, and your passage through it.

A new favourite and a deeply loved reading experience. show less