Nothing makes a page-turner like a quest narrative. A band of unlikely companions, usually on the run from some outside force, racing the clock to reach some nearly unattainable goal. Tensions can run high as close quarters and no reprieve make friction within the group. The basic format is tried and true, but when a storyteller gets it right, that story can sing. Such is the case with Tim Probert’s debut graphic novel, Lightfall: The Girl & the Galdurian (HarperAlley).
In the land of Irpa, an ages-old threat wakes and begins to plot a way to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Enter Bea, a young girl who lives in the magical forest with her grandfather and his cat, and Cad, an amphibious vegetarian. When the two meet — suddenly, when Cad catches her after a tree limb Bea’s sitting on breaks — they both have other things going on. Bea is searching for her lost grandfather, the Pig Wizard. Cad has a quest of his own already; he’s searching for his long-lost people, the Galdurians, an ancient race of amphibious beings. But one thing leads to another, which leads to a note from Bea’s grandfather, a witch in the woods, and a dinosaur-like dragon innkeeper named Bunga.
Tim Probert
Lightfall is wonderfully absurd, heartwarming, and so fun it feels like it should be illegal. Probert’s author/illustrator debut does not read like a first attempt. The story is so well-laid out, so perfectly paced and masterfully illustrated, that it reads like work turned in by a seasoned pro. Which, in a way, it is. Probert is an art director at independent animation studio Nathan Love. With that knowledge, his expressive illustration and his gorgeous backgrounds make so much more sense. Probert’s background in animation might also go a long way to explaining the author/illustrator’s keen grasp of the movement of time — and the way it can be dilated or contracted between panels.
Enough praise cannot be heaped upon Probert for the jaw-dropping beauty of the pages on which Bea and Cad face giant crabs, hungry lizard people, and a three-eyed, fortune-telling witch named Grocha. A delightful montage distills each day of a week of traveling down to one panel: Bea and Cad crunch through fallen leaves. Cad forages for grubs under a giant boulder, which he lifts with ease. Bea climbs a tree to scan the horizon. The two protagonists duck into a cave to avoid a giant monster. They trudge through the rain, the amphibious Cad smiling, Bea with her hood pulled low. Each panel tells the reader something about the characters and about their journey, even as it hints at a wider world. And, to be blunt, they’re just gorgeous.
In short, Lightfall comes with my highest recommendation. It’s a sure win for the young fantasy fan who has already burned through all of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Or, perhaps, for fans of Jeff Smith’s classic middle-grade graphic novel series, Bone. And this reader, for one, appreciates that The Girl & the Galdurian is the first installment of a series. Only Probert — and, presumably, his editors — knows what awaits Bea and Cad in new additions of Lightfall, but if the first volume is anything to judge by, it will be spectacular.