Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Pigs Might Fly is a graphic novel written by Nick Abadzis and illustrated by Jerel Dye. Lily Leanchops, daughter of inventor Hercules Fatchops takes it upon herself to prove to her father that she has created a viable flying machine. After all:

“He doesn’t listen to me. He can be so swineheaded and mean sometimes.”

One thing that I found difficult was when Professor Fatchops was musing to himself – the writing was VERY small and difficult to read. I also found his manner quite unbearable. He was not at all nice to his daughter when he found out she had created and flown a perfectly good aircraft!

In the midst of making the flying machine, Pigdom Plains comes under attach by the Warthogs, thus making it even more imperative that they can fight back. Hercules is charged with getting an up and running fleet of flying machines by the mayor. He stresses out and will not listen to Lily, that she can help him. She takes it upon herself to fight off the Warthogs. In the process, she gets stranded in the land where the Warthogs live now. Oh what to do…

Lots of action and a bit on an interesting storyline. Of course, anytime magic is involved, interesting and surprising things seem to happen. I won’t go into too much detail, as I want to leave the storytelling for those who want to read the story for themselves.

The graphics were okay. As indicated earlier, at times reading the wording (and it was actually a wordy graphic novel at that) was difficult as it was very small print. The characters were more multidimensional than I anticipated (Lily’s aunt was an interesting character). Overall, I found the story entertaining and enjoyed the fact that a “girl” was the main hero in this story. As far as a graphic novel for

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

A REVIEW COPY WAS PROVIDED IN EXCHANGE FOR A FAIR AND HONEST REVIEW

Title: Pigs Might Fly
Author: Nick Abadzis
Artist: Jerel Dye
Release Date: July 11, 2017
Publisher: First Second Books
Review Spoilers: Low

Pigs Might Fly is probably the most unexpectedly great graphic novel I’ve read this year. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the premise from the start. Who doesn’t love the idea of a strong, intelligent young woman saving the day through science? But I couldn’t have know just how much I would enjoy the story and the characters. Pigs Might Fly is a book that’s stuck with me even weeks after I read it. I just liked it that much.

The book takes place in a fictional world where swines of all kinds of evolved similarly to the way humans have. Basically you’ve got pigkind instead of mankind. Lily Leanchops and her family live in the Pigdom Plains, a peaceful kingdom full of pigs where magic and science exist in tandem. Her father is a well-known scientist who dreams of building a flying machine that can fly on it’s own without any magic. Lily shares that dream but in some misguided attempt to keep her safe, her father refuses to let her help him.

That, of course, doesn’t stop Lily. She enlists her cousin Archie to help her and together they manage to do what her father cannot. They build a plane that can fly without magic. And her breakthrough couldn’t have come soon enough. Shortly after she takes flight the kingdom begins to see raid after raid by villainous warthogs in their own dangerous flying machines. But even then her father won’t listen to her.

Ultimately, Lily takes it upon herself to save the Pigdom Plains.

Along the way she finds her own prejudices against warthogs challenged and she finds herself teaming up with some unexpected allies. The book also tackles some other big issues. Not the least of those is Lily reconciling her relationship with her father. Hercules Fatchops is a great character and a great scientist. But his failings as a father and his inability to see Lily as anything but a child causes problems throughout the book.

One of the things I liked the most about the story was how magic and science existed together in this world.

Oftentimes in fantasy stories we see magic taking precedence over science. But in the Pigdom Plains magic is more of an occasional tool. And it’s use does not preclude people from taking up scientific endeavors. I loved how this relationship was shown through Hercules and his sister Sasha – and to a similar degree through Lily and Archie. Hercules and Lily are scientists but they love and rely on the people in their family who instead focused on the magical arts.

I really just enjoyed the world building in general. At the very beginning of the book there is a two-page spread with a map of the Pigdom Plains. There are so many puns in the various town names it’s ridiculous. The same sly humor finds its way into the characters’ names, too. We have Lily Leanchops, Hercules Fatchops, and Ham Trotters to name a few. Also, the ‘Prime Minister’ is a Pigminister. It’s just a fun little addition to what generally is a fairly serious plot.

Jerel Dye did a great job bringing the anthropomorphic pigkind to life. The character designs were all very well done and fit the characters perfectly. I liked how he worked out the differences between the pigs, warthogs, and other porcine characters. He did a good job of incorporating their distinct characteristics into the ‘humanoid’ figure. There were a lot of little details that might easily be missed – like the little tusks that the pigs have that pop up from time to time. I don’t know why but that detail really stuck out to me.

Pigs Might Fly is a great graphic novel for readers of all ages. While I could see it primarily interesting young adult readers – especially with it’s misunderstood, teen heroine – there’s a lot of crossover appeal for older readers, too. Lily is a wonderful heroine whose determination and engineering prowess will inspire readers. And the story will keep readers hooked and waiting more. I highly recommend Pigs Might Fly to anyone who loves a good mix of fantasy, science, strong female characters, and incredible world building!

Lily Leanchops is the daughter of famous inventor Hercules Fatchops, and she's certainly inherited her father's pioneering spirit. While the rest of the folks in Pigdom Plains scoff at the very notion of pigs flying, Lily's been working on her own flying machine in secret. She's seen her father's flying machines fail, and she's taking everything he's doing into account as works to create her own flyer. Like her father, she embraces science, not magic (mostly), but when the dangerous Warthogs threaten to invade - flying their own machines, powered by magic, and led by someone very familiar with Lily and her dad - it's up to Lily to save her home and her town. Even if that means pushing her experimental craft and herself to their limits.

The science versus magic dilemma takes center stage in this graphic novel, which will appeal to kids and, on a deeper level, to older readers who are aware of the science versus faith arguments that frequently occur splashed across social media. Although pigs are the main characters in the story, they are illustrated and given very humanlike qualities and dress - Lily could be another Amelia Earhart or Bessie Coleman in her pilot gear. An interesting parable for current events, with a plot that embraces diversity and working together. A good addition to middle school reading lists and libraries; invite readers to make comparisons between the story and what they see in the world around them and on the news.

Abadzis has created a compelling story and interesting characters. Pigs Might Fly is a real page turner. However, books that use anthropomorphic characters with no real use of the animals chosen has never sat well with me. At least Blacksad's Arctic Nation used the color of the animals to parallel racism. Here, the use of anthropomorphic pigs is simply to have fun with the familiar phrase. Still, the book is a recommended read.

Although this middle grade graphic novel contains some good themes, such as cooperation and working towards a peaceful resolution of a conflict, the storyline is difficult to follow.