Vowels by Skye Ogden

One of my personal success criterion for a good reading experience is whether I feel a wide range of emotions about the characters and story in a work.

I absolutely did that with Vowels. Skye Ogden has delivered an accomplished wordless graphic novel made up of five vignettes that is seemingly naive but packs a powerful punch. This is a book of contradictions in an alien landscape – of humanity and inhumanity, of desire and obsession with a dollop of eroticism, of brutality and transcendent moments, and of unmitigating heart break. It's the kind of work that on first glance appears simple and then when you re-read it you discover how complex and layered it really is, rather like a dancer making the dance look effortless when it took years of study and honing of technique to achieve that quality. Vowels is a fine example of comics craftsmanship and Skye Ogden is a major talent.