13 Aug, 2008

Dorothea, Vols. 1 – 2

By Cuvie
Published by CMX
Rating: Mature

As Catholicism sweeps across feudal Europe, many of those who still practiced pagan religions find themselves ostracized, feared, or worse. In one small Germanic village, the practice of revering the local albino population leaves the area open to accusations of witchcraft and heresy from a neighboring king. Thus the young albino girl known as Dorothea is forced to leave her home and family for the first time as she sets forth on a quest to rally allies to help protect her people from persecution and a possible invasion.

The actual plot to get Dorothea out into the world is a bit confusing. While Catholicism spurs on an attempt to grab the land that Dorothea and her people inhabit, it also presents their own ruler with an opportunity to remove the albinos from his land, thus giving his sole control of the territory. With almost no where else to turn, an old friend pops up once more, presenting her and the rest of the albinos that live within the “White House” an opportunity to find allies. A returning friend is convinced to take her out into the world to find allies to help protect her friends and their land. The political in fighting and jockeying for positions of power takes a back seat to what’s essentially a coming of age story for young Dorothea. Accompanied by her friend, Gyruk, a boy who had left the village several years later to in his own search for adventure, she joins with a large mercenary battalion and is forced to confront the harsh realities of how the rest of the world treats albinos, not to mention the brutalities of warfare. Dorothea proves herself a strong and capable young woman, but still manages to have a certain emotional vulnerability that doesn’t impact her mental and physical abilities.

It’s the same emotional vulnerability of anyone going off into the world for the first time, not knowing what to expect and not truly prepared for the harshness of war and life outside of her little hamlet. The second volume really focuses on this, forcing her to deal with the repercussions and aftermath of her first skirmish with enemy soldiers, and the fact that the rest of the mercenaries she’s with tend to view her as a witch or demon. It shows her coming to understand the fact that evil is a rare thing and even those she calls allies are capable of doing some fairly horrible things, not to mention her wish to simply be accepted and not viewed as some sort of inhuman monster due to her appearance.

The artwork didn’t really blow away. It’s decent enough and it gets the point across, but something about it didn’t quite click with me. It just might not be my thing though, as I honestly can’t find anything bad to say about it. I found several of the characters to look alike and relied upon the dialogue and costuming to help tell them apart. Thankfully, Dorothea’s about the only girl who appears in both books, and she’s heavily designed to look unique due to her albinism and her rather snazzy outfit. The action sequences aren’t anything special; they tend be quick, taking only a few panels. The backgrounds also tend to be a bit sparse with toning being used to make up for the lack of detail in them.

Despite not blowing me away, I thought Dorothea was an interesting story. It’s always nice to see a strong and capable female lead, and Dorothea is definitely that. It seems like the kind of title that should be able to build up a strong fan base among girls in their early teens, but with CMX’s low profile, and the M rating warranting a shrink wrap, I get the feeling that many folks will over look or miss out on it.

Volumes one and two of Dorothea are available now.

-