Zita is a young girl who, with her friend Joseph, found herself on an outer space adventure after discovering a device in a crater while out playing one day. I quickly read Legends of Zita the Spacegirl, and was delighted when a review copy of Return of Zita the Spacegirl showed up on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago. I first met her when Chuck, our editor monkey, handed me a copy of the first book and said, “You have to read this. For anyone who hasn’t heard of Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl, I urge you to get to a library, a bookstore, or a friend with an enviable graphic novel collection and check her out, because she is fantastic.
I would recommend this book to anybody.Great sagas come to an end – maybe. (Although apparently it is out in print, or shortly to be.
The story continues in The Legends of Zita the Spacegirl, which unfortunately I cannot discuss without spoiling the first book, and concludes with The Return of Zita the Spacegirl, which even more unfortunately I cannot discuss because I haven’t read it yet. Plus the assorted allies and enemies that Zita encounters. Zita is never allowed to be perfect, but she is wonderfully real, and that is what makes this story sparkle. The opening scene, which grounds Zita and Ben in the normal world, shows both the best and the worst of childhood friendships, and felt both familiar because it is true to life (okay, minus the alien kidnapper), and disorienting, because it is so real. One of the things I liked best was the way Zita’s strengths, such as her strong will, ability to lead, mischievousness, and persistence, also bring her and those she loves into danger. Zita has no idea what she is doing, far from home and without friends – but not for long! Intrepid and unwilling to mope, despite the astronomical odds against her succeeding, Zita follows the trail of the alien abductor and Joseph and makes friends – some more reliable than others – along the way. Joseph has been kidnapped, and it seems to be partly Zita’s fault.
Zita the Spacegirl is about the adventures of Zita as she plunges into the unknown (to her, anyway) far reaches of the galaxy to rescue her friend Joseph. Oh, and also due to the fortunate circumstance that nobody else borrowed the book before I did. It is due to their activity that I stumbled across Zita on one of my innumerable jaunts to that excellent facility. Thank you very much to the librarians of the Education Library at UBC (the Nevile Scarfe Building) who last year chose the theme of comics and graphic novels for one of their monthly table displays.
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