G.I.L.T.: the Guild of Independent Lady Temporalists

written by Alisa Kwitney
art by Mauricet
lettered by Rob Steen

127 pages, published by Ahoy Comics
buy it HERE.

Very feminist.

This is a gorgeous, simply breathtaking example of artwork that gets it right every page, every panel. A great deal of it is set in 1973, my era with Mayfield Eight. I have to say Mauricet gets it down better than I did, I'll have to revisit these pages for learning how to portray the 1970s better.

This is also, how should I say this? Very feminist. In the sense that the main character is seriously considering turning away from getting married that fateful day way back in 1973, which is where the story sets out. Think 'Little Women' or 'The View.' Lots of back-and-forth between Hildy the main character/bride, her best friend Vera, as well as her other two friends. So not so 'testosterone' and more 'estrogen' in its life pulse. I get that. Women who go through a lot of life changing situations and think about going back to change things would like this GN.

But... it also has a LOT of time changes.

Some of them literally, not flashbacks, as Hildy really is going back in time and is aware of it. For a long stretch she's still 52 but is in her 8-year old self. Several times a panel or page announces the date and time, switching between say November 30 1973 to November 30 2017 and so on. This kept me from really enjoying it.

Whenever lots and lots of time shifting is involved, I feel like the author is taxing my energy in making me have to keep track of something. The few times where time travel works in a comic, novel, or movie or what-have-you is when it's used sparingly, like once. Back to the Future has Marty McFly start out in 1985, go back to 1955, then make it back to 1985. Simple and specific. He had to go back to 1955, fix something, and then return.

We don't get that in G.I.L.T., there's a lot of wishy washy swooshy vagueness to going back and forth in time. I'm sure for Alisa Kwitney it all makes perfect sense, but for me it just seemed like endless homework to keep track of.

So here's a strange paradox.

The artwork is so good, and the dialogue between characters is well rendered that I really am rooting for this to be a great Graphic Novel, to hit it out of the park. But the time travel stuff just kills it off for me. It prevents a story from happening, which you can find in even the simplest Peanuts comic strip. I dove straight into these 115 pages ready to kick it off but Lucy pulled the football away.

I'll have to crack this open again at a later time and re-read it. G.I.L.T. may be a great Graphic Novel still, I just haven't discovered in the writing where it is yet.

Next Tuesday:

Oneshi Press has

'Mr. Guy: Zombie Hunter'

from Jayel Draco!