Nothing Special: Through the Elder Woods by award-winning cartoonist Katie Cook (My Little Pony, Star Wars) is finally available as a graphic novel. This cozy adventure story about two teenagers, a ghost radish, and a magical world is one of my favorite Webtoon stories, and I’m excited to finally have it in my hands and off the screen.
If you haven’t heard of Nothing Special, here is a quick rundown of the plot:
Callie, an ordinary girl with an extraordinary friend—a ghost radish—and a dad who owns a magical antique shop, feels unremarkable compared to the fantastical worlds she’s only had a glimpse of. On her seventeenth birthday, she discovers her home ransacked and her father missing, likely taken through a portal to the magical realm. Determined to rescue him, Callie, accompanied by her friends Declan and Radish, embarks on a perilous journey of adventure and discovery. Along the way, they encounter both friend and foe, discovering their special abilities and the true extent of their courage.
In addition to a captivating story, Nothing Special: Through the Elder Woods comes with beautiful art, wonderful storytelling with diverse characters and interesting personas, and a third wheel of a character (or maybe he’s a fourth after the radish…) named Lassar. Lassar becomes more of a main character later in the story, and he is a delight to read. I love his way of looking at things and how devoted he becomes to Callie and Declan.
If you are a fan of Easter eggs, make sure you pay attention to every single background and all the little details. The most obscure reference I caught was a Club 33 reference. (Disney geeks will know what I’m talking about.) She also has a couple of references to her previous work, including her Gronk comic. (I miss that little monster.)
At the end, you get Radish’s composition book with some fun drawings and behind-the-scenes looks at the story.
Katie is not only the writer but also the artist, and her talent shines in the details. I love looking at the bigger scenes to see what Easter eggs she has hidden. Some of the Lord of the Rings references made me feel like I needed to go back and watch the movies. Star Wars and Hamilton have a few spots in the art. If you follow Katie on social media (@katiecandraw) then you know about her obsession with Hamilton. I had a few giggles at it for sure.
While waiting for the Eras tour to start—Disney+ stream, I don’t have that kind of money—I re-read the book in its entirety and I marked all the pages with a pop culture reference of some sort. After 399 pages, I came up with 29 pages of references. I tried to mark all the ones with cats, but it got to be easier to mark the ones that didn’t have a cat reference than mark the ones that did.
I’d say this book is appropriate for anyone ages 8 and up with emphasis on “and up” because, despite the cute appearance of the art, I feel the story and the humor will appeal to the older crowd as well as the younger crowd.
This is the first book in a series, so make sure you stay tuned for book two when it comes out. No release date has been set just yet, but you can watch Katie work on it on her social accounts. You can purchase Nothing Special: Through The Elder Woods wherever books are sold.
Disclaimer: GeekDad was given a review copy of this title.
