Post-modern storytelling is all about bringing together all kinds of disparate elements, or at least not commonly joined together ones, and making something remarkably beguiling out of them.
It’s a common feature of fantasy storytelling now and increasingly is making its presence felt in comics such as the gorgeously queer and rewardingly diverse Moonstruck, written by Grace Ellis with main artwork by Shae Beagle and supplementary by Kate Leth, which brings together the very human world of coffee shops, colleges and parties with an altogether fantastical one where werewolves and fairies and centaur are as apt to order themselves a latte as good old garden variety humans.
It’s not exactly an original idea but Moonstruck executes this synthesised worldbuilding with a garrulous, imaginative adventurousness that wastes no time in introducing us to the college town of Blitheton wherein reside complicated but loving souls like werewolf barista Julie, an aspiring writer who may just have met the girl of her dreams in Selena, and centaur Chet, a fabulously queer barista who is into Newpals in a big way, a Tamagotchi-like game that he winningly describes as “virtual pet care retro-internet”, and a host of other vibrantly realised characters who will delight and surprise you with their raw, exuberant, flawed humanity (or whatever the fantastical creature equivalent is).
That the characters are so perfectly presented in all their fully fleshed-out glory is important, not simply because it enriches already superlatively immersive storytelling but because it means that the out-there premise that anchors this to-date three tradepaper book series feel really grounded and identifiable with even in all its extraordinary fun and complexity.
Being grounded matters because even though it’s never not highly enjoyable to read about places where the mundane and the fantastical meet, you need there to be something with which to identify or you simply end up feeling like a narrative tourist going on a fascinating but ultimately emotional empty trip.
With each tradepaper issue – Volume 1: Magic to Brew, Volume 2: Some Enchanted Evening and Volume 3: Troubled Waters – encompassing its own story within a great narrative, character-driven arc, there are a lot of journeys to take, all of them bursting with the kind of imaginative storytelling that makes a fantasy-loving soul sing.
Whether it’s the utterly unique surrounds of Mermaid Lake, wherein live mermaids like Skyla, a close friend of Selena from way back, or the parties that take place in fairy frat houses where you need a fae guide to find your way out or you’ll be forever stuck in a maze and you never ever eat or drink what’s on offer, Moonstruck is as gloriously imaginative as it gets.
It also has a story within story, with Leth illustrating tales from the Pleasant Mountain Sisters, a series that Julie loves and adores in the same way that Chet worships Newpals (where he wants an internship) and which comes to play a pivotal role in the way Julie and Selena build their relationship which has more than its fair share of rocky moments.
What truly stamps Moonstruck as something heart-winningly special is the romances that sit at its indisputably adorable heart.
Sure, all the mysteries and adventures are entrancingly fun and will make you giggle with joy at the way they combine flawed humanity, the messy business of living and relating to others and the absolutely magical, but what really seizes your heart and makes this series such a pleasure to read is the way it puts queer romance at the very heart of every tale it tells.
If you are a queer person like this reviewer, then the idea that romance amongst those who depart from heterosexual mainstream norms is exactly the same as that experienced by straight counterparts won’t come as the slightest surprise.
We know that love is love is love; it’s not a catchy slogan, it’s the nourishing reality of our lives.
But seeing it pushed to the fore in Moonstruck is such a pleasure because here are our lives, love, everything that makes us us, out on full display and enriching stories that are already fairly rich to begin with.
It’s this heart-pleasing depiction of queer romance, and the sundry other relationships that spin out from it that lends Moonstruck such a vivaciously likeable vibe.
None of the characters are perfect but they are lovable because they’re real and grounded, an important distinction in any fantastical environment as previously discussed and one which lends the series an emotional resonance which really makes an impact.
Moonstruck is a blissfully happiness-inducing slice of delight which uses clever, emotionally insightful writing, vibrant artwork, and a roaringly expansive imaginative outlook to deliver stories which are off-the-wall fantastical but also very human and heartfelt, a combination so perfect you will swoon, you will fall and you will love Julie and Chet and Selena and Cass and all the others with the kind of passion that matches what you’re reading in a story that understands how alike all are even if we are totally and wonderfully different.