Member Reviews
An excellent graphic novel set in old Europe (Paris?) where we find the mysterious Miss Endicott, arriving on the scene, moments after her mother's funeral. By day, she is governess / Nannie for Master Evens and at night, she takes over her mother's duties as conciliator, a mediator between two disputing parties. Her first client / case leads her to the underground where she encounters a gnome crying over his lack of freedom.
I adored this story of a more capable version of Mary Poppins. Her mother has died and she takes over as a nanny to a boy by day and conciliator on the wrong side of London at nighttime working with or against things like underground gnomes that wish to overtake the city. I like that this is a more modern comic too. A lot of bande dessinée that make it stateside tend to be packed with exposition instead of using the visual medium to tell the story. The art is really good too. I really wish there were more than two volumes.
I really liked this, probably because I am sucker for creepy Victorian stories set in England. I liked the no-nonsense character of Miss Endicott Jr. and her struggle to basically try to live two lives in order to attempt to live up with her deceased mother's expectations and her legacy.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this ebook.
Miss Endicott was not what I expected but I ended up getting charmed by it anyway. Miss Endicott is the new conciliator in town and she is stepping into her late mother's shoes. I would certainly like to read the next volume in the series.
A gorgeously drawn graphic novel with an interesting narrative, plot, and concepts. Definitely recommended for fans of this genre.
A book that surprised, entertained and almost charmed, yet certainly managed to raise an eyebrow. A new arrival in town – here to inherit from her mother whose funeral she's only just got to in time – is a sparky young redhead, who is immediately becoming nanny to a young whipper-snapper nobody can control, and a sort of private eye for the neighbourhood, working at night on a pro bono basis as her elderly mother did. The boy that nobody can manage is putty in her hands, but as for the denizens of the night when she puts her second shift in, well… A lovely cod-Dickensian look to the whole thing, a breeziness about it to match her easy-going bearing as she goes about her business, and more add to the joys here. Oh, and the raised eyebrows are from the peculiar humour that has got the two simpletons of the underworld named after people in the band Underworld, namely Karl Hyde and Darren Emerson ("a lecherous pig"). No eyebrows to be raised at the cliff-hanger ending here – the second half is almost an essential purchase after enjoying the first volume. Four and a half stars – great fun.
This dark version of Mary Poppins is thoroughly enjoyable but far too short.
Miss Endicott is a governess by day and a conciliator by night. She has stepped into her dead mother's shoes in order to take on the mystery solving role of conciliator, but the work is harder than it seems and as Miss Endicott does her work she comes across a plan to hurt the city. Of course she needs to prevent this.
Unfortunately this engaging story is told across two volumes and the second volume has not yet been published in english. This first volume is full of adventure and mystery. Lots of magic and mischief and a frisson of the impossible, as Miss Endicott does her best to fill her mother's shoes. But when her young student goes missing Miss Endicott realises she has a very tough enemy to defeat.
Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Miss Endicott is a head strong young lady who took up the reigns of secret detective from her late Mama. This graphic novel has everything! Victorian era? Check. Underground civilizations? Check. A friendly and nonplussed butler? Check. This is but the first volume in the series and I was drawn in quickly by the stylized artwork and I stayed for the fast paced story. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
A fun graphic novel. There is a lot to like in this one. I'll definitely recommend it to patrons at our library.
I love the time period and setting of this story, which in itself was compelling. I also found the art style to be great. I am looking forward to the next volume.
I pick up the odd graphic novel or two whenever I get the chance. It does make my reading numbers for any given year seem bigger than they are, but that's another story. I made a mistake with this one! Not because the story was not interesting but because it is only part one of two and there is no way I can get my hands on part two! If I did, I might have enjoyed this more.
Miss Endicott has taken over her mother's mysterious role in a very shady part of town. She is also daylighting as a nanny for a boy whose parents have left of a mysterious journey that they are yet to return from. There was subtle humour from the random side characters who happen to be on various scenes of the narrative and overall this does have the ability to reel you in. We are left holding a lot of threads at the end and that is annoying if there is no way to catch up. I would only recommend reading this if you like 'different' graphic novels and if you have the second and concluding part with you.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
First of all, the artwork is stunning. I loved the historic yet modern style. It suited the story perfectly and made it a joy to look at. Miss Endicott is the story of a young girl, who came back to England to take over her mother's business of solving problems of poor people. During the day she works as a nanny in a wealthy family and tries to navigate between these two responsibilities on a permanent lack of sleep.
In terms of the story, I was a bit less impressed. There are many things happening but nothing is really explained or makes sense. I would welcome some more description of the world in which the story is set, as it feels confusing at times.
I do not find Miss Endicott a likeable character at all. She can solve almost everything instantly, she is perfect cook and fighter at the same time (not that it excludes itself, just an example of her various "superpowers"). I do not find her remarkable in any way other than being able to do everything perfectly and fail at the same time. As it is only the first part of the series, I expect the story to improve over time. Also, why does she need to be a nanny at all?
I am new to the genre of graphic novels/comics, so I do not have many things to compare Miss Endicott to. I have enjoyed it nevertheless and I would read the second part in the future.
I have received a review copy by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
A fun read with a plucky heroine, perfect for your lovers of period dramas and knitting... and they're out there!
I loved this!!! It's Mary Poppins with a dark mysterious twist. She is a Nanny by day and at night she solves the cities problems. There is an underground tunnel system with gnomes and I just love where this adventure could go. I do hope they continue on and on with this series. The illustration is actually my favorite. I love all the details. And I really quite enjoyed the story, I will definitely be following and continuing with this series and would highly recommend. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to review this.
I received a review copy by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Miss Endicott's mother's dead and so she take on her business, a nanny during the day and an investigator/helper of those in need during the night. Set in 19th century London, the idea seems promising but the delivery is luke-warm. The art style was really not my thing. Most faces look similar with over-accentuated proportions like gigantic chins, bolbuous noses, and teene-tiny lips and eyes. It's not a particularly pleasant style, I must say.
Storywise I'm not convinced either. There are some interesting moments but it remains dull. In her first case, Prudence Endicott needs to find out who's scratching at a family's door in the middle of the night. First she accuses a known gangster boss and he's like "No, it's not me" and Endicott just says "I'm not sure why but I believe you."
When your character can't even come up with arguments as to why he seems to be innocent, then you know you fucked up.
Let me analyze this a bit closer. The gangster boss knew Endicott's mother well and and as her mother's assistant, an older man, explains said gangster boss and her mother had mutual respect for each other. Gangster boss also explains that he "does business" with rich people since he can't steal from the poor. So you could argue that because of his respect for her dead mother and the little gain from annyoing poor people that it makes little sense to annoy them.
But the gangster boss himself says that he's a habitual liar.
Maybe he would steal from the poor couple but maybe he's interested in something else, like information, because the man is a carriage driver. Maybe he has a client whom gangster boss wants to see or get a hold of.
Of course, none of this is the case and the scratching at the door is actually a "gnome" digging tunnels under the house so he can get to the surface and enjoy life outside.
But Endicott doesn't know any of this until later which means that she dismisses the real possibility that the gangster boss could be the source - despite how improbably it is that he wants to annoy a random couple with scratching - because reasons. Yes, Endicott is worldly, has probably met a lot of people, and can read people's intentions well. I get that and it makes sense but that's not what happens here. She doesn't think or reason.
She literally says "I'm not sure why" and that's lazy because it's authorial intervention. She feels like the gangster boss is not the culprit because she knows because the authors know. This doesn't make her look smart and experienced but rather dumb and naive.
Also, the tunnels lead to an underground city where all the "unwanted" people live, aka people with disfigurements and other outcats but mainly biological anomalies. Only some people are drawn like unhuman creatures that resemble frog-people, ghouls, trolls, or other supernatural creatures. I don't think this is the route the story is going for and it just seems super weird to draw people as literal monsters when they're human.
Mabye a later edition shows the presence of supernatural and fantastic beings but right now, it's just wildly insulting and exoticizing. They're also almost all brutish, "uncivilized", violent, and shown as stupid.
Also, almost every character falls head-over-heels in love with Endicott, not only romantically/sexually but amicably. Even the unruly and bratish boy she's supposed to educate behaves normal and sweet towards her before he even interacts with her. Like, he sees her walking by in the house and upon meeting her behaves completely normal and nice even though he usually terrorizes nannies within the first few minutes. Why does he immediately behave without her doing anything? Never explained. I guess she's just so pretty and beautiful and amazing that everyone likes her instantly before she even does anything.
In conclusion, there are a lot of things that could've been amazing but it falls flat on too many fronts. The story rushes forward at neck-breacking speed, with no real mystery solving involved. I also question Endicott's intelligence with her dismissing the gangster boss (even though I agree that him being the culprit makes little sense) instantly but without explaining her reasoning as to why. We story jumps quickly from thread to thread and the characters are all one-dimensional, especially Endicott. Which is ridiculous because she has obviously travelled a lot, seen lots of amazing things, and learned a great deal but all of this is just mostly forgotten.
Apart from being instantly liked by everybody for no reason, her being "kickass" and respected by mobsters immediately, even loved by a boy who has behaved like a raging monkey towards his other nannies, she's also so smart that she solves cases easily.
They wanted to write a "strong female character" and ended up writing a trope-riddled Mary Sue. The art style is unappealing to me and the way disability is shown is just gross.
I went into this graphic novel with high expectations. It basically had all the components I needed to like a graphic novel. First of all, it has a Victorian (?) governess who also works as a conciliator and helps solve people's problems by night. The illustrations of Xavier Fourquemin were both very pleasant to look at and contributed to the atmosphere of the story. After finishing I can also add that it bends some of the stereotypical settings of historical novels set in Victorian era without destroying the existing atmosphere.
There were many new elements and events that were introduced rather quickly, so I think the pacing could be better, but since it is the first part of a three-part story, this was not a big or distracting issue Finally, I wasn't expecting the introduction of the elements that can be considered "supernatural" but I liked the story more because of them.
Based on this installment, I am expecting to read the second part soon.
I had high hopes for Derrien’s Miss Endicott: Part 1, but the reality of the novel left much to be desired.
I hate being a negative Nancy, but this book wasn’t my cuppa. The story felt disjointed and both plot and characters lacked the depth and development I crave. Too many working parts and not enough glue to keep them together if that makes any sort of sense.
Artistically speaking, I found no flaw in Xavier Fourquemin renderings, but the panels are cartoonish side of the spectrum and didn’t appeal to my personal tastes.
Not for me and not a series I foresee myself recommending to other readers.