Ursula

by Fábio Moon

Once upon a time, there was a story. A love story. Different listeners will hear different things from the love story; for some, it might be a tale of journeys and rites of passage and battles won and foes vanquished and happily-ever-after. For other listeners, it might be a story about dreams and desires, for all is simple, beautiful and magical when you're young and in love. But once upon a time.... there was a story, and listen to me it was a love story.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

Paperback

First published July 28, 2004

About the author

Fábio Moon is a Brazilian comic book artist, the twin brother of Gabriel Bá.

Reviews

[İdil Alter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Önceki işlerini referans alınca Ursula çok derinlikli gelmedi. Kısa ve “tatlı” bir küçük aşk hikayesi. Masalsı ve çocuksu (karakterler çocuk olduğu için söylemiyorum bunu) ama zaten sanırım böyle bir şey denemek istemişler. Helali hoş olsun ne diyeyim. Ne yapsalar okumaya devam edeceğiz.

[Scruffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ursula is a modern day fairy tale romance and is some of the earliest work from Brazilian twins Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Miro is a young prince who meets his soul mate Ursula when they are both children. Years later as an adult he sets out to reconnect with her, a search which leads into Ursula’s subconscious.

There are three distinct art styles used here all very different from the twins more recent work. Miro’s childhood is illustrated in quite a simple style with caricature type figures. Adult life has a much more moody, realistic look to it and reminds me more of Eduardo Risso’s work with thick inking and heavy use of shadow. Finally Ursula’s subconscious has a cartoony look to it with magical characters such as a talking bird and a dragon who wears big square rimmed glasses. The skilful artwork carries the story along even when the story’s not making a lot of sense.

As you might expect with a story dealing with the subconscious things can get a bit too metaphysical at times with too much talk of the nature of life and love. The ending is very vague which was probably supposed to be cleaver but just comes off as confusing. It’s a very sweet and likeable story though and there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way.

While their storytelling isn’t as sophisticated as more recent work like Daytripper, Moon and Ba’s artwork and ideas show a lot of promise here and it’s easy to how they became so successful later on.

For more of my reviews please visit http://www.scruffyfiction.co.uk

[merve enez · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure, heartwarming and wonderful.

[Lautaro Lobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba are two of my favorite cartoonists after being exposed to their work in "Casanova." This is my first exposure to their work as a creative team and it certainly won't be the last, since they have a backlog of material translated from Protugese.

This book is a beautiful, brisk love story set within the bounds of childhood dreams. It's a fast, enriching read that's pretty cheap if you look, so pick it up.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really thought the storyline had a lot of potential but I think that the length of the novel and the illustrations actually hinder my liking of this story. The illustrations could have been so magical and beautiful, but the illustrator chose to represent the characters in typical men's fantasy. I would have liked to seen something different, maybe similar to Craig Thomaspon. The story wasn't too long. There was definitely a lot more potential to draw it out.

[Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was written and drawn by Brazilian brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. They created the hit mini-series Daytripper for Vertigo recently and Bá is also known for The Umbrella Academy on Dark Horse and they have both worked on the Image comic Casanova with writer Matt Fraction.

Ursula is a beautiful, short meditation on love, the power of a child's imagination and the fulfilment of dreams come true coupled with some great black and white artwork.

[Ulla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fábio Moon mit Gerard Way (von My Chemical Romance) an den Umbrella Academy Comics gearbeitet, so bin ich darauf gestossen. Die Geschichte war okay, aber ich weiss sie nicht mehr genau.

Ursula ist mein Taufname. Meine Schwester hat mich irgendwann Ulla genannt, das ist als Rufname hängen geblieben (danke, Christel).

[Jarlos]

an emotional and joyful read with beautiful art about the power of love and imagination. i loved it.

[Mike Jozic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wonderful. Everything these guys do is great. I can't praise them enough and URSULA is no exception.

[Dipa Sanatani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very early work by Bá and Moon sounds like exactly the sort of thing that I would like, but I find the execution still a bit muddled and lacking.

[Ayacchi · Rating 1 out of 5]

It should be sweet, but I didn't enjoy it.