GLAMORELLA'S DAUGHTER

A brilliant, misunderstood girl with autism uses her impressive intelligence to protect her home from interdimensional intruders in Bennett and Martin’s debut YA comic collection.

Glamorella is a much-commercialized superhero whose powers include flight and superstrength. But this volume, collecting the first four issues of the L.P. Comics title of the same name, isn't about her; instead, the star is her young daughter, Comet, who has autism. She’s unfazed by her mother’s fame and spends time with her exuberant friend Isaac (who has superheroic aspirations of his own). Her challenges include social events, such as dances and birthday parties. In this story, Comet helps her father, “interspace” researcher Emmett Emeagwali, fix his computer code to shut down an interdimensional portal after Steve, one of his scientists, is yanked inside it. Steve is pulled into the dimension from which Emmett rescued Glamorella 13 years prior; it tuns out that Glamorella’s father, the king, wants Steve’s assistance in bringing her back. Steve manages to reopen the portal, and the king’s squirrel-shaped minion goes through it, captures Emmett, and takes him back to the faraway dimension. As Comet’s only remaining parent, Glamorella refuses to go through the portal to rescue Emmett. So Comet sneaks out and, aided by Isaac and her frenemy Betsy, breaks into Emmett’s facility in a bid to save him. Bennett and Martin subtly weave Comet’s autism into the story and intriguingly make her a latchkey kid of divorced parents, with a mom who can be called into action at any time and a dad’s who’s lost in his work. The book points out that having a superhero for a parent isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, and Bennett is unafraid to tackle other difficult subjects, as when Glamorella’s vile publicist warns her to keep Comet’s activities with Isaac, who’s undocumented, off of social media because “the optics are bad.” While gleefully employing such comic-book staples as monsters and other dimensions, Bennett gives plenty of substance to Comet’s everyday life.

An exciting and thought-provoking compilation.