Brooms

Written by Jasmine Walls; illus. by Teo DuVall

Set in 1930s Mississippi, this month’s Big Picture features rich characters and excellent world-building to make a boldly factual historical fantasy. Whereas many fantastical depictions of history often use the fantasy elements to provide readers some emotional distance from the tragedies of the past, Brooms instead draws on the fantastical to amplify and confront issues of both the past and the present. The result is a heartfelt, gripping, and resonant story about power—how the majority wields it, and how marginalized groups reclaim it.

For a team of broom racers called the Night Storms, illegal races held in the dark of night are really their only option if they want to compete; as Black people, heroic athlete Billy Mae and steady, sardonic Loretta are banned from using magic in Mississippi and most southern states. California, however, does allow Black folks to both practice magic and participate in legal races, so the duo are fixing to earn enough in prize money from the unofficial races to head west. Being part of the Night Storms means something different but just as important for the exuberant custom broom maker Cheng Kwan, as it is the only place she can be her true self, and not the boy her parents believe her to be. Meanwhile, Billie Mae’s lover Luella sees in the team the chance to help her cousins Mattie and Emma stay out of a government residential school. When Luella manages to convince her family to let Mattie and Emma compete, the Night Storms total five, which means they are eligible to take part in the Witch’s Cackle, the most dangerous—and most lucrative—race of all. As the law closes in, racing becomes riskier than ever, and these heroes are faced with the decision to risk it all or give up their hopes for a future.

Full-color art is simple but evocative; the carnival-like atmosphere of the races (based on historical queer communities of color) is depicted in the deep purples and blues of the night contrasting with the warm yellow glow of lanterns. Illustrator DuVall’s spare backgrounds and panels focus on mid- and close-shots of the character’s faces, impelling readers to focus on their beauty and humanity. Scenes where characters’ emotions break the surface in bursts of celebration or rage have little dialogue and are all the more powerful for it—facial expressions and body language do the heavy lifting. The creators make excellent use of their page space, too, quickly introducing rival racers in a single panel, such as the androgynously dressed team Enbious, the sour-faced Lou Belle and the Lambs, and the Night Racers’ main rivals, a group of white boys dressed in Ivy fashion called the Pedigrees; each team seems to suggest they could have their own comic written about them.

The heart of the story, however, beats with the Night Storms and their crew. Each character faces a compelling struggle, based on their own unique histories, fears, and desires, with Luella especially stand-out. Her story ably demonstrates the book’s use of magic to amplify a historical reality: as a young girl, Luella was forced into a residential school for Indigenous magic users, where she suffered abuse at the hands of the adults running it. When she defended herself, resulting in injury to her abuser, she was sentenced in a court of law and her magic was sealed away. Embodying the phrase “still waters run deep,” Luella is quiet and reserved, but driven to keep Mattie and Emma from suffering the same fate. Her story is an unflinching parallel to the history of Indigenous people being stripped of their languages, their culture, and their power in residential schools.

Walls’ creator’s note details the research, including her own family history, that went into creating this story. Her efforts show in the carefully detailed world-building, like Emma’s use of Indian Sign Language, and in the quiet intimacy of the Night Storms as a found family, remaining defiant in the face of intense external pressure. Indeed, not even an angry lynch mob can defeat this team of queer, disabled, and Black, Indigenous, people of color as they triumph over terror in a story that will surely leave readers in tears of joy.

–Aaren Tucker, Reviewer