Rack Pick: Finder

  Since 1996, Maryland native Carla Speed McNeil has been self-publishing her award-winning Finder comic- first as individual issues, then as trade paperbacks, and later as trades following online serialization.  Now, after 15 years, Dark Horse has picked up this richly detailed sci-fi series and will be reprinting the old collections as well as releasing all future material, starting with the ninth volume Voice.

  Rachel Grosvener is a young woman in the domed city of Anvard, struggling to find her own identity as she applies for membership into an exclusive clan to provide a better life for her family.   When she loses a requisite heirloom things start to get complicated, and a good deal of history and other characters from the previous books come into play.  It's not too hard to follow, though, and it's worth diving in regardless; much of the fun of Finder is in discovering this bizarre and yet strangely familiar new place for yourself.  McNeil also includes a wealth of information in the form of several pages of end notes.  DMZ writer Brian Wood says the series reads "like history from a world you want to live in" and Transmetropolitan's Warren Ellis calls it "completely fascinating".  It's a mix of incredible world-building and flawless characterization that's hard to find anywhere else.

Voice is on stands now; later this month comes a big "library edition" reprinting the first four collections.  There's never been a better time to discover this utterly engrossing saga, so give it a look!