Finding Gossamyr, a dreamy, action fairy tale for ages 7-12

At its root, Finding Gossamyr is the story of a brother/sister relationship.  Jenna, the older sister is caring for Denny who is about 8 years younger than her. When Finding Gossamyr starts we see Jenna about to sign Denny over to some sort of institution that will take care of him forever.   At the same time Denny is taking a math quiz where we learn that he’s a math wizard who can solve problems with ease.

The professor who is administering the quiz is working on a math theorem.  Well, he’s obsessed with the math theory actually and he knows that Denny has the ability to solve it.     Sure enough, when Denny puts his mind to it and solves the theory a porthole to another world opens up, sucking him through.  Jenna follows him through in an effort to protect him putting them both in the fairy tale land of Gossamyr.

The two immediately meet Eloric a knight who is on patrol with his horse Barnabus.  A battle with Merissa, an evil witch breaks out and Denny is forced to save them all by solving a math equation.  In Gossamyr, math is power and those who can solve complex equations are treated like royalty.

After that battle they meet Azune, a green muscular warrior whose allegiance isn’t immediately known.    From there the companions travel through the forest to a fortress where the prince is keenly interested in the power of math and what it can do.  This isn’t a math graphic novel activity book, but it does do a good job of showing kids that math does have power, which it does.

This is a great fairy tale graphic novel that manages to be interesting for boys or girls.  Finding Gossamyr Volume 1 collects issues 1-4 of the comic book.  Girls will identify with Jenna, the protector of her brother who is guiding him through this strange place.  They’ll also be able to relate to her interactions with the prince and how she discovers her girl power toward the end of it.

There is an ebb and flow to the action in Finding Gossamyr that seems very natural.  The action is dreamy and lush with all manner of mythic creatures and images.  Then every once in a while there will be a series of pages with more dialogue that let the characters move along with the story.

This isn’t an all ages comic book because the images and words might be too much for 5 year olds.  However, it firmly hits the demographic that sorely needs quality graphic novels, those that are 7-12.  At that age you may not want them reading or more accurately seeing some of the blood, violence or images in the teen comics.

Finding Gossamyr has enough action to be cool for those ages while keeping parent secure in what they’re reading.    It’s also a good gateway comic into fairy tales, which has kind of a girly reputation, but this one mixes both audiences very well.