Mimi And The Wolves - Volume One

Mimi and the Wolves #1-3

by Alabaster Pizzo

Mimi and the Wolves is a psychedelic, mythical exploration of relationships and spirituality, blending cute anthropomorphism with a dark undercurrent.

Mimi the mouse enjoys a quiet, productive life in her tree house in the Flat Fields with her companion Bobo, until a mysterious and disturbing recurring dream of demons and a long-haired deity becomes impossible to ignore. In the Evergreen Woods live dangerous creatures who can help her, but will she leave the comfort of her home to find answers?

An epic tale of affairs, alliances, and friendships in a quest for power and self-discovery, this collects the first three volumes of Pizzo's acclaimed self-published series.

Genres: Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comix

200 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2019

About the author

Alabaster Pizzo is a cartoonist who lives in Queens.

Reviews

[Booklepuff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this was a really disappointing Graphic Novel for me. I was instantly drawn to it because of how colourful and beautiful the book looks but story wise there was just nothing there.

The setting is cute with Mimi and lots of other Animals. Mimi keeps having weird dreams which leads her to start hanging out with two wolves and it’s never really explained why or for what purpose. Every page, I wanted something to happen to make me understand it or enjoy this story more but sadly this wasn’t the case.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho! Lo único que le faltaba para tener mis 5 estrellas era más explicación sobre ciertos sucesos. Fue unidimensional, pero lo disfruté como una cría so ahí van mis 4 estrellitas. 🤷‍♀️

[Mar]

Jeg tror nok ikke denne tegneserien traff meg like hardt som den traff Ulva (som er grunnen til at jeg leste den), men jeg koste meg med den. Den var litt underlig, på en god måte, vi blir puttet inn i et univers som vi ikke helt får forklart. Jeg ble også litt overrasket over hvor mørk og "voksen" historien var ettersom tegnestilen var så søt, jeg liker det! Dette er et veldig godt set up til en historie, men den blir kuttet av før ting sånn for alvor begynner å skje. Jeg tviler også litt på om det kommer mer, ettersom det er så lenge siden de tre første bøkene som utgjør dette første volumet ble gitt ut. men for all del jeg skal ikke gi opp håpet, jeg hadde virkelig likt å få lese mer om Mimi og den mystiske verdenen hun lever i.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wha.....what was that?
Reminds me of The Fog where you have adorable (and cutesy-drawn) woodland and farm anthropomorphic creatures behaving and experiencing very not-cutesy things. The cat couple fights and lies about money, I think there was a polyamory relationship in here that might be part of a cult, the mouse’s wolf friends ate happily eating the bunny children (who are complete with cute little Von Trapp children outfits).... I really don’t know what to think about this, except I want an adult coloring book of every page! :)

[ulvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hm. Slukte hele greia på en time. Universet, tonen, historien og kunsten er så ufattelig interessante og plasseringene forfatteren velger å spe disse små innblikkene i alle karakterene sine liv igjennom panelene og handlingen gir meg en bittersøt følelse. Pizzo har en helt fantastisk måte å veve inn forskjellige typer forhold og intensjoner på. Selv om hvert minste lille snev av svar på eller forståelse av det som egentlig skjer er veldig kryptisk og kommer i små doser, syns jeg det er noe som gagner boka og gjør at jeg lengter etter mer. Denne fortellingen var rett og slett sykt stilig!

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite recent comics, I really love this book. I love how aesthetically rich and full the world feels, I love the characters and their designs and dynamics, I love the super creative paneling of a lot of pages, and the whole thing feels so atmospheric and realized. I'm very excited to eventually read the rest of the story when it comes out.

[mkhare · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. A promising start, but I felt like the graphic novel started to hold me at arms length starting from the halfway point, no longer providing insight into the main character’s thoughts and feelings despite the constantly changing state of affairs.

[Danni]

Don't know what the fuck I was expecting but this was WILD. I think I enjoyed this? I'm curious to see where the story goes so I will be picking up the next in the series?

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusual book that leaves me scratching my head but not really wanting more.

The book is attractive with stylish art which is crisp and playful but the story is something else, a mix of personal conflicts, occultism, and larger mysteries. The cheery innocence of the art and the dark and mature themes make for a delightfully jarring combination.

The story is set up nicely in the rich little world presented with Mimi encountering a solid mystery and call to adventure. But it gets tired quickly as the opaqueness of the mystery soon drags rather than drives the story. We hunger for discovery with each page but only rewarded with lethargic action.

I'm curious to see where this story goes but not enough to seek out further chapters.

[Kamila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this dark, surreal, occult story with strangely bittersweet visuals. The little details of the world shine through the plot of Mimi's disturbing adventures, adding even more character to the comic.

As a lot of questions are left unanswered, I do wonder if there are plans for this graphic novel to continue in the next volumes. I didn't mind the open endings too much, however "Mimi and the wolves" left me wanting to know more.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alabaster's illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. I find myself wanting to be surrounded in Mimi's world - maybe Alabaster will commission wallpaper someday?? Anyhow, the story itself was really intriguing and I ended this volume wanting more, more, more. It's a fascinating story and I'm very curious about where we're headed next.

[Eden · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork and setting of this graphic novel was very cute and whimsical, but it was difficult to figure out the intended audience. While some language and content clearly indicated that it was more suitable for a mature demographic, the sometimes frustrating naïveté and childishness of the main character seemed like it was geared more towards someone younger. I understand that this blend was kind of the goal, but for me the juvenile feel of the book made the more adult content seem, at best, out of left field and, at worst, creepy and off-putting. While the plot was unique and had an intriguing aire of mystery and magic, it got a little repetitive. Mimi, our protagonist of indefinite age/ maturity level, carelessly traipsed from dangerous situation to dangerous situation, passing out, getting injured, having weird visions, and having wolves creepily obsess over her, until finally it culminated in her arc as the “chosen one”. She wasn’t very compelling as a character, and the way she acted, without a lot of explicit motivation, constantly threw me off. The aspect of the goddess/ cult was really interesting, but there was hardly any explanation about it, and I just kept waiting for something to happen that would help me understand what was going on. I don’t mind ambiguity, but this felt underdeveloped. Perhaps if there had been a bit more explanation behind this divine/ supernatural aspect, I would have more easily forgiven the strange relationships between the characters. The way the wolves treat Mimi made me uncomfortable, and I couldn’t find a justification for it because the goal/ beliefs of this “cult” were so under-explained. Overall, I think the concept was interesting, but the disconnect between Mimi’s maturity and the maturity of the overall book left me unsettled.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

You aren't the first to wander these woods, you know. It's not a sacred journey. I don't think it's likely we'll ever meet. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.

Having read the first installment a few days ago, I couldn't resist buying this collated volume of the first 3 graphic novels.

Mini has always had the same recurring dream and after a chance conversation with a shop-keeper she is given an elixir to encourage lucid dreaming in order to try and understand the meaning of her dreams. Soon she realises there is a lot more to the dreams than she ever knew. What does the symbol mean? Can the wolves be trusted? Will her relationship and friendships ever be the same again?

Dive into this wonderful fantasy world to find out!

I can only hope that Alabaster Pizzo continues the story and I will be looking out for further installments.

[Christina Wilcox · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustration in this book is unbelievable. The drawings alone had me engrossed in the story. However, this ended up being rather dark and confusing and left me feeling a bit icky which sucks. I usually like cult-ish stories, but the other thematic elements of this just wasn’t for me at all. I will say though, if you enjoyed the game The Cult of the Lamb, you will LOVE this graphic novel! I’m just a bit too fragile for this 😅

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first ever graphic novel and it did not disappoint! I picked it out mainly for the cover art and caricature designs, but it was way more than what I thought it would be! My only frustration about the novel is that I was left with a lot of questions. That being said, I’m super eager to read the next volume and see how the story of Mimi progresses!!

[Madalene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creepy tale about a mouse getting involved with a paternalistic blood cult of wolves. It's never clear what is motivating the characters other than Mimi wanting to understand a recurring dream she has; and the side characters come and go seemingly unrelated to the main plot.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enchanting art! Looking forward to future volumes.

[Deryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline is incredible, but the dialogue was clonky. It was often jarring for these cute woodland creatures to start droppong F bombs, and the speech patterns were unnatural.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting, disturbing, mysterious, I NEED the next book.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This affected me way more strongly than I would have expected.

[Dane Divine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Nice twisty story. I wanna know what happens next!

[Gabriel H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and intricate. Cool character design/mix of "cute" and weird/darker creatures. Has some really interedting relationship beats. I want to read the next part already.

[lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to see what happens next

[Pinja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just not for me i guess, nothing really managed to grip my attention and it actually took me a really long time to read this, just because i wasn’t really interested in picking it back up :(

[Avery Jam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art in this graphic novel is to die for.

[Grg · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard watching abusive relationships, even when they're mice.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting art style and strange story.
I can appreciate it, but it wasn't for me.

[Whitney Bolin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the art style and love the world of this book, but I didn’t realize it was ongoing! I’d love to revisit once Volume 2 is complete so I can read the rest of the story.

[Jordan Verebes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was surprisingly deep for what the synopsis was and wi as surprisingly shocked!! Can’t wait to read the second one

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mimi is so cute - but am not sure about those wolves. Ends on a bit of a cliffhanger which is a bit annoying - otherwise it would've been five stars!