Bigger Than Capes

Hello and welcome to a new feature: Trading Options wherein Angela answers your hypothetical questions about a trade release. Today we’re looking at G.I.L.T. from Ahoy Comics. Written by Alisa Kwitney, with art by Mauricet, and letters by Rob Steen.

Okay then so what’s G.I.L.T.?

So glad you asked since that’s the point of this feature. G.I.L.T. is the Guild of Independent Lady Temporalists.

So it’s a time travel book?

It is indeed! We follow Hildy and Trista. The former is one of those lady time travellers who lives in an apartment in a strange building that facilitates time travel. Hildy is desperately trying to fix her past. Trista is the home healthcare aide assigned to Hildy. Hildy initiates Trista into time travel except things go wrong and they both end up back in the seventies in the bodies of their younger selves – Hildy as a young woman and Trista as a child (breaking the rules as two are not meant to travel at once).

There are rules to this then?

Oh, yeah, of course there are and those will come into play throughout. You’ll need to pay attention because there are some really great examples of how time travel works. The finale really underlines the rules and the foibles of the apartment building that houses these strange time mechanisms. But it’s not just about the rules. It’s about the people, the friendships, the family dynamics. It’s about facing your mistakes and what you can or should do about them.

What do they do about them?

I’m not going to spoil the plot! One of the joys of G.I.L.T. is seeing the characters choices play out. How much of this is under their own control and how much is destiny? What’s great is that we get to see things in the past and then in the future and there are some very satisfying pay offs as we see the pieces fit together. Like a well oiled jigsaw.

A what?

Never mind.

So it’s well written?

Very much so. The time travel is used as a really brilliant plot device and the characters are great. These are female characters with strengths and flaws and they feel so real. This is what I want from a lady time travel comic. There’s the clever time travel moments and the touching character moments. In fact all the characters feel well realised, even the ones that are a little more supernatural in nature. There’s quite a lot of characters but all are memorable, as is what happens to them.

And the art?

Also fabulous! There’s a wonderful attention to detail. I don’t think the seventies have been quite as well realised. The fashion, the decor, it’s perfect. And again the way the characters are depicted as real women, their expressions are on point. Plus the other characters. There’s a lot of individuals in this book but all are visually distinct. There are some real moments of tension too and the art never short changes that either. From people, vehicles and places the details are brilliant.

This sounds like a good book. Anything else I should know?

If you like time travel, period books, solid characters, clever plots and excellent art then it’s the book for you. I’d say it’s worth trying even if you like just one of those things. There’s humour, drama and amazing coats.

Just one more thing. What does ‘well oiled jigsaw’ even mean?

I have no idea but Ahoy seemed to like the fact I used it in a review about G.I.L.T. Now I must be off I need to add some WD40 to a 500 piece puzzle of a 1970s living room. Go and read G.I.L.T.!

You can read all my written reviews of G.I.L.T. Here

The trade of G.I.L.T. is published by Ahoy and out now.