An Elegy for Amelia Johnson
Hardcover
Written by Andrew Rostan
Art by Dave Valeza and Kate Kasenow
Lettered by Dave Lanphear
Price: $14.95
Archaia
Release date: March 2, 2011

Every now and then, an original graphic novel can spark emotion out of you. The best ones can make you feel like you know the characters and have an emotional attachment to said characters. In An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, writer Andrew Rostan and artists Dave Valeza and Kate Kasenow tell a brilliant story of friendship, forgiveness, love, and death. The story is about Amelia Johnson, a 30-year-woman who has been diagnosed with cancer and enlists her two best friends to deliver her last video messages to her other closest friends. Amelia’s best friends: Henry, a filmmaker, and Jillian, a magazine writer, go on a countrywide journey to deliver Amelia’s last words to close friends, but also film the conversations about Amelia. Along the way, Henry and Jillian discover parts of themselves that have previously been buried while living their creative lives.

An Elegy for Amelia Johnson is a fantastic story that deals with the final days of a woman who wants to right her wrongs. The story feels so real that the reader feels invested in the story and its characters. With each turn of the page, you will want to know what is happening with Henry and Jillian’s journey to find out what other people think about their dying friend, Amelia. The characters of the story keep the reader interested and make the book hard to put down. Rostan’s story is a very personal one. It feels like it’s something that he went through himself.

The art by Dave Valeza and Kate Kasenow is definitely a different style. It’s not flashy like most art in modern comics. It’s simple but realistic. The reader can visually see the emotions radiating from characters with facial expressions and body language.

Overall, An Elegy for Amelia Johnson was a great read that evoked emotion and made this reader think about life in general. The book is a fantastic original graphic novel and definitely deserves to be read by all.