The Gremillet Sisters v1: “Sarah’s Dreams”

“The Gremillet Sisters” is a tricky book. It’s not what I expected it to be.

I read the first chapter when it appeared in Spirou magazine a few months back. It felt, to me, like it was going to go down a fantasy route, with possibly some kind of alternate world that the kids were about to discover. I was guessing that their mother was hiding it from them for their own safety.

But that’s not what happens in the book. What does happen is a little more down-to-earth but, in all honestly, a little disappointing.

Let’s go back to that first serialized chapter, though, and work our way to the ending. I promise I can explain my issues with it without further, massive spoilers.

A Jellyfish of Credits

What’s Going On?

The book begins with a girl having a dream in which floating glowing jellyfish lead her to a magnificent treehouse that’s mostly windows. And just when things are getting interesting, her sister wakes her up.

There are three sisters all together, and they get along about as well as you’d expect any three siblings would. There’s the usual about of squabbling, followed by just enough mutual love to keep them from being annoying jerky kids.

The story from Di Gregorio and Barbucci is about the oldest sister (barely a teenager) and how she tries to figure out what the dreams mean, with the help of her sisters. Along the way, it’s obvious that their mother knows more but isn’t letting on.

And so the kids go into town to interview some people, explore some areas, and try to figure it all out.

They get stymied until Mom steps in to tell them everything.

That’s probably the biggest disappointment of the book. The kids do some half-hearted research, glide through the world, and then have the answer dumped in their laps. It doesn’t quite feel earned.

There’s no adventure or danger. There’s no massive twist or surprise. There’s a link between the dreams and the real world as far as symbolism goes, but that’s about it. There’s an emotional story to be told here, and it leads to a stronger bond between the sisters and their mother, so there is a point to it. Something is gained from it. That’s all good.

But, to be honest, it’s kind of boring. Maybe this is the kind of safer entertainment a parents wants to give their child to keep them busy. My 11 year old daughter might like this, but I think even she might be a bit underwhelmed by it. Raina Telgemeier’s books feel more dramatic and emotional than this one.

The other bright side here is that it’s a complete story in one book. I believe there’s more coming. If I had to guess, I’d say that they’ll do two more books and each will focus on a different sister.

The Art of Alessandro Barbucci

The reason I read this book was for Barbucci’s artwork. “Ekho” is one of my favorite BD series of all time, and his art there is filled with detailed backgrounds and beautiful people in front of them. His storytelling and movement on the page is top notch.

He uses a different style with this book, which makes sense. This book has a younger audience in mind, which Barbucci has worked with before, notably on “W.I.T.C.H.” and “Monster Allergy.” it’s not that cartoonish, though. He keeps things more realistic, yet more cartoony than “Ekho.” He’s building a beautiful world here, but it’s less in the minute details and more in the flowing lines, softer characters, and more expressive faces. Everything is bigger on the page, too. He’s not trying to cram as much stuff as possible per page.

The whole book has a soft, fantasy feel to it. There’s nothing black on these pages except for the lettering. There’s no panel borders, and no word balloon outlines. All the ink lines are colored in. It has the feeling of a children’s book, almost, more than a comic book. I think that’s part of the reason why I thought this book would go into a more fantastic direction than it ultimately did. It felt primed to go in that route, from the set-up to the style.

Here’s a larger panel that packs more detail into it than most anything else you’ll see in North American comics today. It reminds me of a lot of children’s picture books where they’ll have a double page spread and try to fit at least 50 items into it:

Barbucci also gets a couple of changes to show off his architectural skills in this book. You’ve seen the glass house at the top, but he also shows off a bit of the lineup of buildings around town:

That’s the Gremillet household in the yellowish light in the center of the panel. Again, that’s a great trick done with the coloring. The yellow is the light of the sun shining on the building that’s the focal point of the panel, even if it might otherwise, in black and white, blend in with the rest of the buildings.

Care and thought went into the design of the buildings. They all feel like they fit in together. They usual similar visual language. But there’s plenty of variety between the buildings, from the rooftops and their dormers to the shape and size of the windows on them.

I could stare at these drawings for a long time.

Recommended?

I think this is a cute book for the tween girl in your life. If my daughter, who definitely fits that mold, were a little more into fantasy, I think she might like this one. It has relatively low stakes with cute art, and tells a complete story.

It has its charms. It’s a good looking book. There’s just not much there. It’s a great book to read between other, more serious or dramatic books.

Or, if you’re a fan of Barbucci and would like to see how he’d draw in a looser style than he does with “Ekho”, this is a good chance to do so.

You can also find the book on Izneo.