I discovered Carla Speed McNeil with the opening chapter of Finder: Third World in the pages of Dark Horse Presents, about four years
ago now. I had no idea what was going on, all I knew was that I loved the art,
the characters excited me, and I was massively intrigued by the sheer depth of
the world I was being presented with. I kept up with Third World for a while, excited for every new chapter and disappointed
when it wasn’t included, learning and growing more and more interested each
time I was presented with a few new pages.
After a few months of this, I finally decided to look into
what I was reading. I soon found myself with a copy of both volumes of the Finder Library in my hands. The tomes
(each being upwards of 600 pages) were devoured in a matter of days. I had
found (get it) exactly what I wanted in my fiction. McNeil calls it “aboriginal
sci-fi,” and that’s a perfect description. A sci-fi/fantasy world with a
spiritual twist, Finder follows a
variety of characters living in a multitude of places, each with their own
history, beliefs, and traditions. Much
of the series explores people in places they weren’t meant for, and how an ever
changing world can eradicate the traditions of the past.
It is difficult, to say the least, to encapsulate Finder in a few sentences (or even
several pages, hence the reason that there are currently ten volumes of the book,
with an eleventh on the way). In many ways, Finder
is a gateway drug, both to comics in general and to a part of the culture
that is, much like the world of Finder,
vast and different from what is so often seen in the mainstream. I find it
comparable, in this way, to Transmetropolitan
or Y: The Last Man. A book created so
well with a concept so interesting that it transcends the normal boundaries of “mainstream”
and manages to fit snugly between the cape books and the weird black and white
stuff that your cousin reads (though I suppose that in this situation, we are,
collectively, that cousin).
Although I could talk about it endlessly, Finder is not McNeil’s only work. McNeil
has found herself providing art, covers, and guest illustrations for stories
since Finder began in 1996. More
recently, in 2013 she released Bad Houses,
written by Sara Ryan, through Dark Horse, and recently finished up the first
arc of No Mercy with Alex de Campi,
through Image, the first volume of which will be coming out in September of
this year. She has a story in C. Spike Trotman’s upcoming anthology New World, as well as in Trotman’s
previous books, The Sleep of Reason and
Smut Peddler, and a story in Kel
McDonald’s Cautionary Fables and Fairy
Tales: Africa Edition.
McNeil’s masterful art and storytelling make her one of my
personal favorite comics creators today. She puts an incredible level of detail
into her work yet still manages to maintain a style that is clear and easily
understood. Her stories are always fascinating, and enjoyable on several levels
– easily the first time, and with a vast amount of detail, commentary, and
depth on subsequent read throughs.
