The Lost Colony 3: Last Rights

Like some fairy tale take on the Old South, peopled with fantastic characters and lightly leavened with satire, Klein's third Lost Colony volume is a treat from start to finish. On the titular utopian island, where verdant fields are bounded by lushly blooming trees and picturesque mountains that initially obscure the dark past of the humans living there, spoiled princess Birdy isn't sure where to turn with her problems. The loving flashbacks she has of her recently murdered grandfather are challenged by eruptions of truth about his violently racist character, while her stuckup mother appears smitten by the appearance of an old flame, the oleaginous Reverend Swagger. Meanwhile, Birdy, a spoiled and tempestuous tyke, continues to mistreat her one true friend, the ex-slave Louis. Klein's mixture of the real (shades of antebellum Southern racism) and the fantastic (magical rock sprites who inhabit the island and work in mysterious ways), combined with his wondrously bright visuals, make for a heady and occasionally even educational mixture. (Oct.)