Creator: Faith Erin Hicks
	Published: 12.17.2008
	Pages: 156
	GENRE: All Ages, Drama
	http://www.faitherinhicks.com

With her second graphic novel, The War at Ellsmere, Faith Erin Hicks is a quietly emerging star.  For years Hicks worked on several webcomics and built up a small following, starting out with Demonology 101 and following up with the continuing Ice and a few smaller works. That Internet success eventually parlayed itself into her first graphic novel, 2007’s Zombies Calling, a witty romp where three college roommates suddenly find themselves in a zombie movie.  Despite a few nitpicky things here and there, it was a good first work.

Her latest work, The War at Ellsmere, is a more serious book that retains her inherent knack for witty dialogue and down-to-earth characterization. The title might be a little misleading since this is not about an actual war.  The term is metaphorical, and the place, Ellsmere, is an elite all-girls boarding school.  Our protagonist, Jun (full name Juniper), has received a prestigious scholarship to the school, and it’s clear she’s the odd girl out.  Everyone else has connections piled upon connections piled upon money, and she has none of those.  That rubs our antagonist, Emily, the wrong way.  Emily is the snobby, arrogant little brat of the school, manipulating things to her whim with the aid of her two minions.  When Jun confronts her at orientation for being mean, we get our “war.”  Jun is certainly not on her own.  She quickly becomes friends with her roommate, Cassie, a free-spirited artist and UFO enthusiast. 

As the “war” wages on, we slowly peek into Jun’s past and get to know her pretty well.  She’s highly intelligent and quick to snarky repartee.  Emily, with her minions, sets out to make her life hell while Cassie gives her moral support.  It’s all a very enjoyable read, and definitely something that will appeal to younger readers, but Hicks writes it in a such a way that gives the term “all ages” a good name. 

By the end, she has set it up for future volumes, and let’s hope that happens because despite all its good points, The War at Ellsmere is not nearly long enough to have really fleshed out its three main characters.  While we see plenty of Jun and her backstory, we see only some of Cassie’s own history and nothing of Emily’s.  In turn, Emily feels like a stereotype.  Her motives are to be evil and manipulative because she’s evil and manipulative.  She plays nice when her parents or an authority figure are around to cover up her vices because she’s a snobby, arrogant little brat.  We’re predestined to hate her (or love to hate her as the case may be), and it’s a little too common.  But her parents aren’t necessarily neglectful or apathetic towards her as many wealthy parents seem to be, so there is plenty to mine here if there were a sequel.

At the heart of this book is the story of two outcasts forging a friendship and trying to figure life out, and in that Hicks succeeds with flying colors.  Hicks inherently knows how to make characters relatable and human, and that’s not always an easy thing to do.  She is one or two more books away from becoming a regular fixture at comic book stores and conventions, and when you have Hope Larson, wife of Bryan Lee O’Malley and a respected comic book artist in her own right, writing your introduction, you’re certainly going places.