Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!
As someone who at this point is quite familiar with Luke Cooper due to years of exposure, I have to ask myself… What in the fuck did I just read here!? And I ask that with no negativity whatsoever as this is practically what Fight Club (I know, I know, we don’t talk about that) could’ve been if it’d been allowed to go even deeper and darker. But instead of a fight club, we got a kid with major identity issues who could kill you in the blink of an eye and then wonder if she could get some Ice Cream next. In another life, our girl April Gray would be the can do no wrong princess in her father’s eyes, her mother’s best friend, and the center of attention amongst her fellow students. The kinda girl who would likely volunteer her time and energy to different things. Sadly, in this life, that’s just not the case thanks to heavily screwed up adult thinking by those who should have known better.
Screwed up adult thinking that led to a screwed up childhood becoming even more screwed up and developing Identity issues because of it. Which makes reading this GN interesting on account of the fact you gotta pay attention to who is in the driver’s seat at various points. Is it April? Is it Suzy instead? Or the two at the same time in one way or another? And all the while, you got certain types looking to either bring her in or use her for things no kid should ever be involved with. And just when you think something’s gone one way, Luke and co-creator Alex Dawn flip the script to show that’s just not the case. The amount of time put into this book clearly shows as you read through it and waver between wanting to support April/Suzy or feeling horrified by the actions she commits like killing someone.
This girl would more than likely be either a Therapist’s dream come true or worst nightmare considering how fucked up she is. And as you might expect, Luke keeps to the theme of limited colors for April Gray and people looking a little on the creepy side as he’s done with other books. Showing that you just never know if someone can be trusted or not and where aide may come from in the least expected place. Director Samuels is one of those who was affected by April’s actions prior to the events of this story and he’d be the least likely to even think of wanting to do right by her. Of course, getting rid of Dr. Pope is a bonus for everyone, kids most especially as it means he won’t ever be able to twist traumatized kids again.
Pope’s the kind of guy that those in charge of Child Soldiers probably would’ve paid out the nose to get him to work with them in order to get more efficient Child Soldiers. Which… Horrifying all around I would say. But in regards to Samuels, the man’s had time to come to terms with the past and know that she’s not directly at fault/responsible for what happened with his son. Though I can certainly imagine that definitely took A LOT of time and effort to come to that sort of thinking.
I’m curious to see how April/Suzy’s gonna live life after everything that’s happened in this story and only Luke himself knows. Yes, this story is a little on the convoluted side (done intentionally) but if that doesn’t bother you while also reading how Humanity can show how bad it can be to even kids, you’ll want to give April Gray a read! As who doesn’t want to occasionally see a youngster kick ass in very violent ways?
Well… Maybe no one rational minded perhaps.
April Gray – GN
Markosia
Created by: Luke Cooper and Alex Dawn
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks
Summary: QUTIE: Cute killers on the QT Suzy Sweet is a nice, normal girl – a real sweetheart, a true innocent. She soon realises there is more to her than even she knew, however, when she is caught up in a convenience store hold-up and suddenly finds a shotgun in her face. Everything goes black. When she comes to, she is covered in blood and all the robbers are dead. By the time Suzy has figured out what’s really going on, she’ll be on the run, a lot more people will be dead, and she will have uncovered a top-secret government project – a conspiracy to weaponise trauma – all leading to the greatest mystery of all: who is April Gray? From Luke Cooper, creator of Hollow Girl, AloneNotLonely and Pumpernickel, April Gray is a bloody head-on collision between Jason Bourne and Becky.
Thanks for the kind review. It’s one of the most fun things I’ve ever done and definitely a good series to go out on.