ANNE

Anne Shirley’s life changes forever when she is taken in by brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, residents of the bustling Avon-Lea apartment complex.

While the staid Cuthberts expected a younger foster child, they slowly warm to 12-year-old Anne. She settles in and quickly discovers friends, passions, and a crush. Anne experiences true belonging for the first time and comes into her own even as her impulsive and imaginative nature gets her into trouble. Including the titular heroine’s most infamous hijinks—feuding with classmate Gilbert Blythe, dyeing her hair green, and longing for a dress with puffed sleeves, among others—Gros takes a greatest-hits approach, which results in the story’s lacking much of the complexity that makes these adventures work in Montgomery’s classic. Anne, as presented here, lacks some of the spark and quirk that made her character so appealing, although certain updates work successfully, such as her traumatizing experiences in the foster care system and a low-key exploration of her feelings of same-sex attraction. The art is simple and boldly colored, with expressions and actions that at times add humor and emotion and at others look stiff. The medium of comics is utilized within the story itself: Anne is a zine-maker, and instructions for how to make zines are integrated into the text. The main characters read White; the supporting cast is racially diverse.

A sweet but too pat adaptation.