Review-- Luke Pearson's lovely, imaginative, yet surprisingly gritty ***Hilda*** series. ( lemm.ee )

Luke's a British cartoonist born in 1987 who did storyboarding for animated Adventure Time episodes. What I find remarkable is that he took that "AT" sensibility and turned it in to something even more interesting to my mind, i.e. the Hilda series.

The series occurs in a sort of Scandinavian-fairytale setting, populated by various mythological races; one in which humans live in villages with paradoxically modern conveniences, such as electricity, plumbing and manufactured goods. This serves to create an amusing, fertile juxtaposition in which all kinds of interesting story ideas can be mined, not unlike as in sci-fi.

Just before the following sequence from Hilda and the Mountain King, a troll-mother, impressed by Hilda's gumption and kind-hearted nature, decided to 'make her happier' by turning her in to a troll!

After an anguished period of rebellion, one in which it's impossible for her to return to the city, Hilda finally calms down and decides to stick around the mountain for a bit:

https://i.imgur.com/EvBdpCV.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/WDd9Awq.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/tSR5faG.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/MnIAOa8.jpeg

In this series there's plenty of adventure going on, but instead of going for 'pure cartoony fun,' Hilda tends to focus more on personalities and motivations, particularly the main character's delightfully curious nature, which can sometimes be quite the double-edged sword.

I was consistently fascinated by the quandaries Hilda encountered, based on understandings and misunderstandings between minds, often unravelling certain mysteries and truths along the way, such as who and what are her troll neighbors, exactly?

Like some of the best literature, the stories can be enjoyed by all ages, but there's unexpected depth and even angst in Hilda that I greatly appreciated as an older reader. Indeed-- Pearson never panders nor falls in to the trap of trying to make moralistic points, either subtly or unsubtly. Rather, there's a sort of 'naturalism' going on in these stories, and Luke manages to keep things on a remarkably even keel, letting the stories speak for themselves as if he himself is just a Tolkien-esque observer.

The albums are published in English by Nobrow Press, and there's even a well-received adaptation on Netflix. Samples of that here.

(HERE are some more cover & panel samples)