Princess Celeste is understandably upset. As the heiress of Lemuria, it falls upon her to make the solitary journey to the temple of the goddess to ask her to protect the kingdom. The peace and prosperity of all in the kingdom require that her journey be made. So y’know...no pressure or anything like that. She is about to find out that the journey is not one that she will be entirely alone for in The Unicorn Legacy Vol. 1: Call of the Goddess. Writer Kid Toussaint and artist Verónica Alvarez weave a fun fantasy tale in the first graphic novel of a whole new series for Europe Comics.

Astra isn’t feeling well. She’s in bed as Celeste wakes up on the morning of the journey. Really, it shouldn’t be a big deal. All she has to do is go to the temple, say the prayer, and come back. No big deal. The whole “once every 100 years” thing just makes it feel like a bigger deal than it is. Really. It’ll be fine. Only--what is it that the Queen Mother said? “Beware of the witch?” What could she have possibly meant by that? And on the map to the temple? “Howling Cave?” “Tree of Dread?” They went all-in on the ominous names...

Toussaint has a lot of room to move the adventure around. Given 80 pages, a lot of writers would have wanted to bog the first issue down in ponderous world-building and a lot of unnecessary backstory. Toussaint keeps it simple, shooting Princess Celeste right into the jaws of the action right away. There’s only enough dialogue to get across the basics. There are whole scenes that play out without much verbal accompaniment at all. It’s a quick and wondrous adventure that manages to find the right balance between breeziness and coming-of-age thematic depth. 

The Unicorn Legacy is nothing if not cute. Alvarez’s manga-inspired art finds cuteness in a variety of different locations in a variety of different moods that are all expressed through an ensemble that quickly expands in the course of the breezy graphic novel. Alvarez manages to lean into the cute just far enough that it fails to become overwhelming. This is absolutely essential as the story is, above all else, an adventure story. That adventure flows through several drastically different locations, making for a very intrepid little 80-page adventure. 

Toussaint may not be bogging down the first volume with a whole lot of exposition and world-building, but the author IS introducing a really big ensemble of characters. Things CAN feel a bit like they’re moving along a little more quickly than they should. Pacing can be a tricky thing to get down just right. If this first graphic novel could have been split up into eight different single-issue American-style comics, it might have felt like each character in the ensemble had a bit more personality, but overall the first 80-page volume is a great deal of fun.

Grade: A-