Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus

Trish Trash #1-3

by Jessica Abel

200 years from now, Trish “Trash” Nupindju lives on the newly inhabited Mars, whose settlers live under harsh and ruthless conditions. Trish dreams of only one becoming a hoverderby star. It seems like making the professional derby team is the only way to escape a future of poverty on her parents’ farm. But, what happens when a half-dead Martian shows up on her doorstep and changes everything?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

208 pages, Hardcover

Published January 8, 2019

About the author

Author and coach Jessica Abel is the author of Growing Gills, Out on the Wire, La Perdida, and two textbooks about making comics, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics. Abel’s latest work of fiction is the Eisner-nominated Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars.

Reviews

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to read a prose novel set in this world that focused on the uprising of the workers and their relationship with the indigenous Martians. The derby parts felt not superfluous so much as that any other activity could have been plugged in to its place (with a few modifications) and the story would have been the same. And why, exactly, is flat track derby the only sport that seems to be played on Mars? It just seems an odd choice and more likely borne from the author's love of the sport than from any organic result of world-building. There were also some issues with the characterizations of Marq (shitty best friend who broadcast stories about Trish against her wishes because they served his agenda), Hanna (one-dimensional mean girl), and Devin (underdeveloped slacker/love interest). It has a lot that I liked and I have hope that there will be future volumes that will, at least, give the supporting characters some more dimension.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the art. The story starts very strong and the sci-fi world building is excellent. I was engaged for the first two thirds. That last third though. Oh boy. Way too many plot threads and character arcs to rush through in such a short period of time. It was so rushed that plot or character arcs were slamming like screen doors in a hurricane. It made the conclusion muddled and dissatisfying.

This needed to be a longer series to resolve everything the story set up. Strong start, rushed end. Art and concept are excellent.

[gypsydreams · Rating 5 out of 5]

While living on a newly inhabited Mars to overcome the trials and hardships of their hardscrabble life Trish chases a dream to be a hoverderby star to take her away from life on the farm but things become interesting when a half-dead native of the planet shows up at the door.I also gave this to my adult kids to read as they love this format great story with a twist I was given a copy of this book free for an open and honest review namaste :)

[Penny Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ending! I'd read the first two parts when they were originally released. It was fun to reread them as part of the whole collection.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of the art. Story was solid but the third part was too fast. Or maybe the first two parts were a little drawn out? Took me a little bit to get through it all.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The art and story are great. I really enjoyed the fact it is driven by a good plot and not finding ways to sexualize the female characters.

[Jessica Villarreal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had a lot of interesting ideas (indentured servants, colonialism, etc) but none were explored enough for my liking. Ended on a cliff hanger (?) that wasn't that exciting. I thought this was a three part series but seems like its going to keep going. In which case, what's the point of bundling these three into one book? Decisions made by some characters just didn't make sense ie. Trish's friend taking video of her and posting it online. What was the point of that? To guilt her? Like why would he think that wouldn't get them in trouble. Idk. This had a lot of cool ideas but it was somehow also boring and it jumped around between scenes in odd places. Some big events were just glossed over. I'm very torn over this because I want to know what happens but I'm also underwhelmed by what I already read. Sigh.

[Laura Ess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have just finished reading the library copy of this omnibus edition of the comic series. Highly impressed with it. The main character is a Marty - an indentured colonist on Mars - who is a big fan of the hover derby. Everything's run by the Arex corporation and there are native Martians hiding in the outback. But things are about to change, and Trish will be at the centre of that.

Great story. The omnibus edition has pages of background info at the end, but the story's so well written that you pick up most of that anyway.

[David Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd heard good things about this but was deeply disappointed. Boring generic space scifi set on Mars, only slightly redeemed by the roller derby plot hooks. My biggest scifi pet peeve is boring aliens, and boy are the aliens in this boring. They mostly look like humans, speak English with little difficulty, and even have human genders. Snore. It's a shame because the art is good and it's clear that a lot of love went into making it, and it's nice to see scifi with mostly female leads. Just not my thing, I guess.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

I found this boring. I don't know how they were able to take such complex themes such as indentured servitude, the cycle of poverty, death, and plight of the indigenous peoples and make them boring but they did. Also, WTF Marq? Were you trying to out all the derby girls and get them into trouble? Seriously, what did you think would happen? It became really frustrating. The end was really fast and not a good enough cliff hanger to make me interested in reading more. The characters were trying to go for depth but it was very one dimensional and dull.

[m_miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the artwork is engaging and striking, the narrative is lacking in fully developed characters. Marq's motivation was sometimes unclear to me, Devin felt tacked on, and Hanna was a cliched mean girl. The ending felt simplistic and formulaic given the complex themes. Although this is the collected edition, it feels like there is more to come, particularly related to Trish's parents and the relationship between humans and indigenous Martians.

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Trish Trash: Rollergirl Of Mars Omnibus’ is a graphic novel by Jessica Abel with background and design by Lydia Roberts and colours by Walter. I’m not sure what background and design mean. Originally released in three parts, the story is here collected into one big lovely edition with full colour printed on shiny paper.
Trish is a lively, intelligent, likeable character and the story neatly combines the several threads of her life as a moisture farmer, her interaction with a Martian, her struggle against the Arex Corporation that controls Mars and her career as a Rollergirl playing Hoverderby, a game rather like Rollerball.
This is good clean fun and quite similar to a decent Heinlein juvenile..but with pictures! For full review see https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/trish-tr...




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[CR · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review: This graphic novel had an interesting style as well as an intriguing storyline. People have always wondered what it would be like to live in space and this graphic novel shows that, but with aliens and higher tech. But it does have the realistic earth to mars year difference. The main character was said to be a seven-year-old, which had me confused at first but then I realized they meant she was actually fifth-teen in earth years. Which made more sense.
I’ve always had a soft spot for graphic novels. But I still have an opinion on them. Although surprisingly this book was well written and illustrated. I was really engaged once they showed otherworldly beings in the mix. Aliens have always been interesting to me. Especially how different people draw them. I overall really liked this book and I hope to read the next one of this series.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is very cinematic and the world building and character design is overall good. SHOUT OUT for excellent representation of curly hair! The book dips into ideas about colonization, indigenous populations, capitalism, and environment, while keeping the story grounded with one girl and her friends and family.

The thing that really bugged me about this book was that Abel put in a bunch of footnotes to explain Mars lingo she created for the world, but they were distracting since you could figure it out well enough from context clues.

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the setting, Trish's irreverent and headstrong attitude, and the heady thrill of the roller derby. On the whole, it's a great read, and I like the pro-union (ish) anti-slavery, indigenous inclusion themes as well. I found the narrative a little confusing at times, as from one panel to the next we could suddenly be in the middle of a situation completely unrelated to one before it, but even that adds to the complexity of the world.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this story sooo I'm giving it 4 stars BUT the ending isn't the right ending. It's too rushed and feels more like a lead into the next volume and is just a wrap up that does not tie things up. Because of that, I'd say it's closer realistically at face value a 3 bit since I liked it as much as I did, I'm giving it a 4. It just felt like this wasn't supposed to end here but keep going.

[V, The Reading Turtle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it's my fault for not liking this one very much. I don't like space adventures (I haven't seen any of the Star Wars film) and sports. But there are other books I read that caught my attention even though the genre is not something I like. So I guess this graphic novel actually lacks something.

The art is okay, but I'm not a fan of it. The way the faces are drawn is inconsistent.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of potential for Poco and Marxist criticism here. I really liked the character of Trish but I felt she took a backseat to the issues in the 2nd and 3rd comics. Love the art and the concept though.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the art and the anti-corporate themes, but ultimately it didn't hit for me. The characters felt a little thin, and ultimately the roller derby stuff was a distraction from the other parts of the story that were way more interesting to me. So, not bad, just not for me.

[Isaac Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent graphic novel. Imaginative story telling, socio-political commentary, striking illustration, and a compelling heroine. What more can you ask for?

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Abel has created a Mars-based rollerderby revolutionary tale with aliens, evil corporations, lavish art and solid characters. What more do you need?

[Samsalaqueen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. Different setting, different time but same stupid racism.
Only thing I didn't get was the roller derby part but that's no deal breaker if you just accept it as is.

[Atlas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting concept and story. I really enjoyed the wiki article/timeline in the back of the book too. The world building was seemingly super comprehensive.

[Craig Vinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story of overcoming the odds. A future mars colony backdrop stages a story of wealth disparity and a class war like is happening now. And roller derby!!

[Dymar De Claro · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPORTS DRAMA SIYA TO IT’S CORE pero super daming themes na naexplore. The world building is also top-notch!!!!!

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually first stumbled across the second album in the trilogy collected in this omnibus and even brought it home from the library before I realised that (which luckily happened before I started reading it). And when I checked if the library had the first volume, I happily found out that they had this omnibus edition, which I decided to go for. And I am really glad I did.

Jessica Abel's Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars is an interesting and well-made graphic novel about Trish Nupindju, a seven-and-a-half year old (i.e. fifteen Earth years) girl who has been born and raised on Mars, dealing with the daily struggles there, where most of the population is essentially indentured and owe the company Arex more than life long debts, dating back to their ancestors who first made the trip to colonise Mars. There are ways to work off debt, but this usually involves mission with a high likelihood of dying (in which case, the debt is at least wiped clean, and not transferred to family).

The narrative has a great focus on the political implications of this world, where water is a precious commodity, and indigenous Martians (non-human beings evolved on Mars) are considered a problem by Martys (i.e. native martians who are human) in general. And then there is hoverderby. A contact sport which is huge on the planet, but which arguably serves a function similar to the old adage of bread and circuses.

In the middle of this set up, we follow Trish, and her friends, through everyday life and dreams of becoming a hoverderby star. But also, with all kinds of complications, all of which trigger changes.

I found this a very good read, and hope that I will find more material by Abel in the future.

[Whatcha Reading Heather? · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was all around a beautifully written and illustration book that discusses topics that are very prominent today. The only things I wanted more were 1 more volume and to maybe make Trish slightly older. Otherwise this was near perfect and will absolutely be one of my graphic novel recommendations for years to come.