My first impression of Adventures of Mia was that it was beautifully illustrated, but the stories were a little too simple to really make much of an impact on me. Well, the second issue features one story rather than three, and I found it much more engaging, and the artwork is just as beautiful if not moreso than the first issue. Casarosa's tale conveys the joy of flight and youth but also has an edge in terms of examining World War II-era Italy and introduces a likable heroic resistance fighter into the life of his young protagonist. The result is a perfect adventure comic, with an exotic setting, gorgeous artwork and very likable characters, and though it took me two issues, I've now fallen in love with The Adventures of Mia.
It is pretty clear from Mia that Casarosa is an artist first and writer second, because while his writing is solid, his artwork is gorgeous, and he often takes advantage of the luxury of page upon page of wordless sequences showing off airplanes in flight. The opening sequence, a three page silent sequence, really gives a sense of Mia's flight skills and of the joy that she takes in putting a plane through its paces. It's also worth noting that, while taking three pages for this could seem a little indulgent, Casarosa tells us a lot about the character and her setting in these wordless pages, and it certainly never feels like he's wasting space.
Indeed, Casarosa is a master of visual storytelling, and of setting the tone with visuals alone. The sequence of the saboteur stealing the experimental plane (sort of) from the Italian airbase portrays that character as wily and professional, but also with a sort of mischievous trickster sense of humor, and the sequence called to mind the Pink Panther films as much as it did the cool pulp adventure that clearly inspired Adventures of Mia as a whole.
The Adventures of Mia deposits the reader into another world, not just the world of a young girl or one that is invested with the importance of flight, but in a foreign country that is in the grip of a corrupt government. The notion of doing the right thing even though it goes against the dictates of your government is one that rings particularly true in this day in age, and while we've seen any number of World War II stories set against the backdrop of Germany or Japan, we've seen relatively little exploration of the Italian experience in World War II. Casarosa offers up a setting that is familiar enough to draw the reader in, but different and new enough to keep them engaged.
Bottom line, Adventures of Mia is a beautifully illustrated and imaginative look at heroism from unusual sources, flavored with a love of old flying machines. The story is just getting started, and I'm a little wary that we might be waiting quite a while for the next chapter given the wait between issues one and two, but I'm certainly interested enough to stick around and find out what happens next.
