Quince

by Sebastian Kadlecik, Kit Steinkellner, Emma Steinkellner

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 164
Rating:

Synopsis:

Lupe is just your average, insecure, well-meaning, occasionally cranky teenage girl whose life is completely turned upside down when she discovers she has superpowers at her quinceañera. Her quince powers only last as long as she’s fifteen, so over the course of this rollercoaster year, we follow the adventures of Lupe as she figures out what it really means to be a hero.

Quince is a fun project which I read in the English translation. Sebastian Kadlecik, Kit Steinkellner and Emma Steinkellner worked together, bringing it out in 15 issues, one issue at a time, on the 15th of each month… Lupe is celebrating her quinceañera when she gets superheroes, and her abuela is there to guide her, recognising her powers as being given to her because she’s going to need them for some reason.

It doesn’t dig an enormous amount into the whys and hows, but I thought the idea of a temporary superhero — with powers only for the year she’s aged 15 — was kinda neat. We don’t hear a whole lot about what her abuela did with her own powers, but the bond between the two of them drives the story… and drives Lupe to fight crime.

I’d say I wasn’t 100% happy with the fact that the story never explains how she gets the powers, why they only last a year, why a teenage girl is the most appropriate, why her abuela is so certain there’s a purpose behind it, but I mostly kinda rolled with it. I found the ending a bit trite, and the lead-in to the social responsibility, volunteering, etc, kinda… cringe? It’d have felt more natural if there was some kind of explanation, like Lupe’s quince powers are intended to instill that in her.

I wasn’t an enormous fan of the art at first, but it really grew on me, and I love Lupe’s character design. She’s a Mexican plus-size superhero with super teenage expressions, ahaha, and the art and colours ended up feeling perfect for it.

Overall, I feel like it’s probably better for younger readers, and I’m hardly the target audience, but I had fun. It was a random pick from Comics Plus to fill a bingo card I was using to prompt me to explore the Comics Plus collection (this prompt being “superheroes, but not published by Marvel or DC”), and I’m glad I gave it a shot.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)