Mera: Tidebreaker: 07/04/19

Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige and Stephen Bryne is one of a new series of one offs of graphic novels featuring different DC characters. Mera is a princess of Xebel and she wants freedom for her people.

After a set of introductory scenes involving graffiti, a ball, and an argument between father and daughter, the narrative settles into a YA "fish out of water" romance.

Literally.

Mera goes on land to find and kill the Atlantian crown prince. She over does and ends up in the care of the very person she is here to murder.

Despite him having a girlfriend and she being hell bent on killing him, they become friends. Then they become more.

I'm coming to this graphic novel pretty much as an outsider. Call me a literary fish out of water. I'm not following DC's comics and I've not seen Aquaman.

That said, I enjoyed the plot. It relies on romance tropes and frankly that's fine. My problems with the book are actually in its design.

The lettering is sometimes difficult to read, especially when characters are whispering and their dialog is written at about half the x height of the regular text. Also sometimes the text is rendered in a color other than black on white and there isn't enough contrast to read the words easily.

The other oddity with the art is the choice of colors. It's primarily pastel, done in various light blues and mint greens except for some peach and pink for contrast (and for Mera's hair). I guess it's a light pallet to appeal to female readers and to highlight the romance. But it's distracting and it draws attention away from the big picture items: a princess of an occupied kingdom on a quest to assassinate the crown prince of the occupying kingdom.

Three stars

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