What a grand time to call yourself a fan girl in this current comic book era. Not only can one see comics displayed on the big screen, thanks to Marvel and DC, one can also see the representation of color, gender and sexuality continuing through the colorful pages.
For other comic book fans who enjoy reading about characters of color, women and generally people kicking other people’s behind, then I am positive you will like this mini-series. To start off with a bang, imagine a 16-year-old detective set in her father’s hotel.
If this sounds anything like Goldie Vance, then you deserve a gold star. The comic series released this January for a set of four issues. Readers can follow Marigold Vance as she takes on cases with enough motivation to inspire anyone just by flipping through the pages.
“She’s fascinated by how things work, and how people work,” said series writer Hope Larson in an interview with Comic Book Resources.
Goldie, as she is called, works at her father’s resort, Crossed Palms, where mystery seems to have also checked in. Despite her slightly awkward but adorable mentor Walter is not as enthusiastic to answer the call of mystery, the two team up.
The comic begins with distressed parents holding tightly to each other as they cry about their missing child. When, suddenly, Goldie appears at the door with the young boy in hand and a huge smile on her face, “special delivery,” she says.
Those two panels sets up the character of Goldie Vance: a whirlwind of energy and passion but enough determination to solve her mysteries in a timely fashion.
Goldie is the kind of girl we wanted to be friends with in elementary school; she’d defend us on the playground, help us up and probably yell at all the bullies.
Though she does try to follow after her mentor and the real detective of the hotel, she cannot help but poke Walt in the right direction. As such, readers are able to see a young girl becoming comfortable with her own judgement.
This idea is rather important to see in comics: a young girl of color confident enough in her hunches to pursue them and even place herself in dangerous situations, like driving guest’s cars in races.
This is important to me; a woman of color who has an urge to know as much as possible. I can only imagine what it would have been like to read this story as a child, instead of the predominantly white and male comics I had.
Sure, Goldie still has to answer to Walt, the actual detective who cannot seem to solve the same mysteries, and she still has to answer to her dad, the manager. She still needs to follow the rules of society, but she makes them her own.
Readers can see the charisma of Goldie as she solves the mystery of the missing necklace, helps in her friends’ love lives and beats guys in drag races–all in one day.
The spunk of Goldie is just as addicting as her love for a good mystery. I can’t wait to buy the second, third and, let’s be honest, fourth issue of the series to see where her story goes.
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sam Howzit’s Flickr account.
Naomi Harris is a senior multi-platform journalism and sociocultural anthropology double major and can be reached at naomi.j.harris01@gmail.com.
