Rapid Review: Seconds By Bryan Lee O'Malley and Nathan Fairbairn

Seconds

By Bryan Lee O'Malley and Nathan Fairbairn

Finished reading: 30/01/21

My rating: 5/5 stars

Seconds is a graphic novel that follows Katie, a talented twenty-something chef who dreams of owning her own restaurant. However, things have not gone quite how Katie dreamt they would. She is still stuck in the same flat above the same restaurant she’s worked at for the last ten years or so and her own restaurant plans keep falling through. But then Katie discovers something in her old dresser that allows her to rewrite her life and gives her the second chance she needs.

Seconds was such a wonderfully weird and wacky read! Although I’ve never read Scott Pilgrim, the film adaptation is one of my all-time favourites, so I had very high expectations from O’Malley. I was so happy that Seconds carried the same whimsical imagination and witty humour.

I suppose the story itself was fairly predictable to anyone who has ever watched or read any time travel story. But I thought O’Malley added something unique and colourful to a pretty saturated market of stories about meddling with time. I knew the destination, but I still adored the journey. O’Malley kept to tradition but twisted the conventions slightly which made it so intriguing and enjoyable even to me, an avid time travel geek. It was highly entertaining, but there was still a little nugget of wisdom mixed in.

I really liked the magical elements within the story, I thought they worked surprisingly well with the time travel storyline and definitely added a different kind of depth. It felt like it could easily be a Studio Ghibli production because of the cutesy-story-book-esque elements. But it also had this wonderful darkness too it which built up alongside this. I absolutely loved how these were blended together.

The attention to detail in the illustrations was phenomenal and the bold colours were so gorgeous. I loved how Katie’s dialogue argued with the narration, this was a really fun touch. I also really liked Katie’s bright red spiky hair as this made her stand out on every page, she was instantly recognisable at a single glance. It definitely felt more like a comic which I really liked. I think because of this it would be a great book to start with for anyone looking to get into comics or graphic novels of any form.

I thought the colourful cast of characters really made this story all the more special. I loved what they all added to the story. I especially loved Hazel and the emphasis on female friendship, I thought this was a great touch. I always seem to say this about graphic novels, but I think this one in particular would make a wonderful feature length film purely because of these characters. I want to experience their interactions at full speed. I would love to see Edgar Wright direct this in the same style he directed Scott Pilgrim as this would truly be heavenly!

Overall, I enjoyed every second of seconds! It was such a comforting read with enough weirdness to satisfy my weird soul.