Trish Trash #1

About 200 years from now, Trish "Trash" Nupindju lives with her aunt and uncle on a Mars-based moisture farm. Mars is colonized, but settlers live and work under brutal conditions and live in abject poverty. Trish cuts school one day try out for the Novas, a hover derby team - think roller derby, but a little more off the ground - because she wants to become a star and leave this red rock already. She finds herself on the wrong side of hover diva Hanna Barbarian, but she lands a spot as team intern. Life's starting to look up, until Trish discovers a weak and injured Martian, whom she takes in.

Rollergirl of Mars is the first in a new science fiction trilogy by Harvey Award-winning author Jessica Abel. It's a promising beginning, but I've got a few questions; the biggest one being, does living on Mars age humans differently? Trish is supposed to be 7 1/2 years old, but looks and acts like a teenager. I hope this gets fleshed out in future issues. I love the idea of hover derby (I've mentioned being a frustrated derby girl when I've reviewed derby books here in the past), and the match in the first issue has energy that readers will enjoy. We've got a diva conflict setting up, and some family drama on the horizon, so there are quite a few elements set up here to move future narratives forward. I love the diversity reflected here, too. Give this to your Roller Girl readers who are ready for some more realistic, gritty art and storytelling, and talk this up with your teens. There's a great Trish Trash section on Jessica Abel's author page, too.

Well that was certainly an interesting beginning to the story. Most of the world-building was good (a couple of times it got mildly confusing but tended to clear up quickly enough), the artwork was evocative, and I liked Trish as a character overall. She's young and rash and makes some questionable choices but that left me wanting to read more of her story. I would recommend this for anyone who's looking for a good beginning to a sci-fi graphic novel, especially one that is friendly to younger readers.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jessica Abel brings an irreverent sense of energy & fun with this installment of a science fiction coming of age story. Her artwork is clean with a lot of strong, fluid inking style that reminds me of a more controlled Paul Pope. In fact, Trish Trash reminds me in many ways of Paul Pope's THB - which is a good thing - but with a tighter storytelling pace and a better sense of plot. Recommended!

Disclosure: I was provided an electronic reader's copy of this book for review purposes.

I fell like I missed something with this first book. I'm looking forward to the next volume to see if some of my confusion is cleared up. The story thus far is intriguing.

'Trish Trash #1: Rollergirl of Mars' by Jessica Abel has a lot of story elements thrown at the reader. There are also some confusing things that are not explained.

Patricia Nupindju lives on Mars with her aunt and uncle. She helps them on their settlement, but she loves roller derby. When she hears there are try-outs, she wants to join, but she is only 7 1/2 and the minimum age is nine. She skips school to try out and makes the team, sort of. Along the way, she has a fight with her best friend, has to break the news to her aunt and uncle, and finds an unusual inhabitant on the family farm.

I realize it's only issue one, and I really prefer if my stories don't spoon feed me everything, but there were things here that just didn't make sense. She's 7 1/2? Is that in martian years? Because she looks like a teenager (or older). She seems good at skating, but how did that happen? Where does she practice? It seems like she's just magically better than everyone around her. When she and her best friend fight, I just don't care, because he is barely in the story. Add to that the problem I had with the slangy language that narrated the book, and I just didn't care for it.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Super Genius, Papercutz, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

The first part of a new series in which a girl abandons her boring life as a moisture farmer on Mars in favor of accepting an internship in a rollerderby team. Not surprisingly, she has always dreamed of a life as a pro-sporter and can't wait to take the opportunity.

While it looks like it is going to be a decent story, I thought this first part was too short to be able to really say something about it. A lot of different story lines are thrown in to only sixty pages and it is too early for me to be able to see where it is all going.

Some predictions I will make though: I think it will be fun to read, but I do not expect anything highly original or surprising.

I will be looking out for the rest of the story though!



Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

You like roller derby? You like science fiction? You like graphic novels about strong women and girls? Then pick this up. This was, well, I can't say fun, but it was great to great. Fast paced, world built well, and the things that do happen in roller derby, except on Mars. And except for the roller skates. And I'm sure there is one more except, but that is the brunt of it.

Instead of rollerskates, the girls/women race on special shoes that hover above the surface of the velodrome.

Trish is a water farmer. She hates it, and worships the rollergirls. So when there is an open tryout, she skips school so she can get in. She does, but they want her for her mechanical skills more than her skating.

Great first issue. I look forward to reading the next volume. Well written.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Set 200 years in the future of Mars, but with a 50's sentimentality. Everything in the future looks pretty much like it did in the 50's, but now it hovers. Trish is a moisture farmer whose family is struggling on Mars. She gets an intern job with the local roller derby team. Definitely has potential but I felt like there were sections where pages were missing and the story could have been fleshed out better.

Story was hard to follow and some of the Mars-related phrases and concepts didn't seem particularly logical.

Looks like a reasonable sci-fi graphic novel for the teen audience, although with vital pages cut from the Netgalley proof it's hard to tell. You also need to know something about rollerderby, and the first few pages of overlapping narrative forms, and social media chat, don't help comprehension. But the basic elements of the story – girl abandons her vital work to dream of life as a pro sportswoman, while coming across a dying Martian – aren't too bad. Just a double-length comic and only the first part of a trilogy, so when the whole thing is there to be read I may well return to it – looks a tidy little piece.

A promising start.

I read an ARC copy which lacked the last 10 pages but I liked what was there was to read.

The only false note to me was the aunt and uncle in their initial appearance. Incredibly stiff. Robotic. There was no kinetic energy at all.

4 stars and I look forward to the next issue.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader's copy of this comic in exchange for my honest review.

When can I read more! I was so sad when this was finished. It feels like two fantastic storylines blended into one even better story. I can't wait to see how the whole thing unfolds as Trish continues to pursue her Hoverderby dreams and deals with the harsh realities of living on Mars.

I actually requested this from Net Galley while in the waiting room the other day at my hospital before I was about to be admitted for a minor day surgery procedure. I saw SPACE, and ROLLER DERBY and that it was not a white girl on the cover and then I quickly pressed REQUEST as fast as my hands could press on my weenie phone screen.

Ok first: WHAT A RUDE ENDING!!!!!! I WANNA READ MORE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! NOT IN NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Second: I'M GONNA TELL EVERY ROLLER DERBY GIRL I KNOW TO READ THIS ASAP!!!!!!!!

This was fun!

I love everything about this!!! I can't wait to read more. The art is amazing, the story is very promising, and Trish's backstory is intriguing. Can't wait to buy this!

The premise of this story caught my interest. Rollerderby on Mars! It starts off slow, setting up the environment people are living in. There's some deep resentment issues in society over labor and poverty. And Trish isn't the first girl who wants to escape that by dreaming about a life somewhere else, doing what she loves. To start, it reminded me of the movie Whip It. But the surprise at the end was enough to make me want to read more. I'm interested to see where the story is going to go. I have not decided yet if this is appropriate for middle grade. Might be more YA.

I'm always looking for new comics to devour, especially comics created by female creators. So when I saw Trish Trash on Netgalley, I was immediately intrigued and eager to see what the story was about. Unfortunately, my reaction to the first volume is a bit mixed. I didn't hate it, but there also wasn't enough that happened within the first volume that made me eager to look into the second volume.

Regarding the comic: The artwork was rather lovely. It's a bit rough, but it works for this story, and the coloring is excellent. When it comes to the lettering though? It was distracting. At times it was difficult to read.