FORMAT: PAPERBACK (REVIEWED), DIGITAL | RELEASE DATE: EARLY APRIL
Graphic novels are a fantastic way to communicate new ideas through stories. The combination of visual and written information means that for many, it’s easy to be inspired. This is perhaps why so many scientists and engineers are into sci-fi comics, having picked up the habit in their youth. The Curie Society is perhaps the most blatant attempt to get young minds into science, technology, engineer and maths that we’ve ever seen, however.
Our heroes are science undergrads Maya, Simone, and Taj. Each of these young women is brilliant in their field but finding navigating the world a little tricky. Simone isn’t a team player, Maya struggles under the expectations placed on her by her family and Taj is much younger than the others and thus quite naïve. Each is brilliant in their own way and the trio end up discovering The Curie Society, a super-secret science organisation dedicated to making the world a better place. On the way, they fight those who would corrupt good intentions for selfish ends.
Basically, this is a super-hero book where all the heroes are young women who happen to be brilliant scientists. Think Thunder Birds meets Birds of Prey.
The Curie Society’s biggest problem is that it is in too much of a hurry to tell the story, so it packs everything in on every page. They aren’t enough splash pages and a lot of the comic book is quite dense. Coupled with this is the book’s central mission to promote science and technology. Rather than simply showing us a cool thing and moving on with the plot, we get more information than we need right now about the cool thing. We get it; science is cool and it’s for everyone, but this message comes at the cost of the books narrative and this lets it all down.
With a TV series already rumoured to be in development, The Curie Society is a comic book that reads like a pitch for something else. It’s a brilliant idea and a great premise, but it simply crams in too much set-up and not enough story. The Curie Society is perhaps not the best science focused comic book in the world, but it is the most enthusiastic. Recommended for anyone with young people in their life who are keen to explore science.
