The Professor’s Daughter: A Quirky, Fun Valentine Read
By: John Chidley-Hill
With Valentine’s Day in the air, comic book nerds everywhere have love on their minds and in their hearts. But where can they turn to satisfy their amorous reading needs? After all, sometimes, Superman and Lois Lane just don’t cut it.
The Professor’s Daughter, a Victorian romance between a curator’s daughter and the museum’s prized mummy, is a more sensitive alternative to the typical four-colour cape and spandex set.
The sepia-toned art by Emmanuel Guibert is impressively emotive, and he is skilled at conveying feelings through body language, an important trick when one of your protagonists is wrapped in bandages.
As well, Joann Sfar’s dialogue is spare, but effective and suave, particularly in the portrayal of the character of Pharaoh Imhotep IV, who drops some lines that will make the reader smile and maybe even blush. It’s not just Imhotep that is smooth — the whole story has a quiet charisma that will suck you in.
Part of that magnetism comes from the genuine chemistry between the star-crossed protagonists. Obviously, a love story between a genteel Victorian lady and an undead corpse isn’t a natural fit; it’s not quite in the Doris Day-Rock Hudson mould of romantic comedies. But within the first few pages, not only is it clear that Lillian and Imhotep are attracted to each other, it’s clear why they are in love. Not an easy writing trick.
Of course, a story that involves the living-dead, genteel romance, and Queen Victoria being abducted also has some humour in it. Sfar’s writing has a dry humour that keeps a light tone throughout the book.
The funny thing about the creative team of Sfar and Guibert in this piece is that they reverse their usual roles. On their popular children’s work Sardine in Outer Space, Guibert does the writing, and Sfar does the art. The Professor’s Daughter reverses that formula with great success.
Translator Alexis Siegel also deserves credit, doing a great job of maintaining the tone of the original French text.
The Professor’s Daughter is a refuge for the weary graphic novel reader who wants a break from the spandex and violent or taut political drama that dominates today’s comic book marketplace. No grim Watchmen posing or Pride of Baghdad political allegory here. The Professor’s Daughter
is just a simple, touching and sweet love story and a nice past-time on Valentine’s Day.
Author: 
Publisher-Creator Mikhail Saavedra began life down by the deepest tip of southern Latin America. He started life with a deep curiosity for all things, with music and books being at the forefront, a curious child by all accounts. As he grew and opened his eyes to the world, he developed a sense of justice and dignity in part as a reaction to growing up in a military dictatorship. Alas, this did not fill him with fear or cynicism but a more rebellious spirit, which led him to being incredibly popular at the principal’s office and the local riot police department….
Then came Canada and it was here that he was able to formulate his deep desire to learn about the world, with Toronto being the kind of multicultural soup that could engage his need to know and embrace. It started with writing, then moved on to what became Toronto’s first Latin Alternative radio show, followed by an all-English show in the same vein. It was this desire to find the true “crossover” among people, which led him to the concept of “Alternavox”
He is a lover of wine, good food, Neruda, Eduardo Galeano, rebel music, revolutionaries, dancing, family and beautiful people. Believes that kindness in this much too cynical world is revolutionary, that you are a better person when able to give a little without asking for the change and that on the same token you should laugh at yourself and the madness surrounding you as often as possible as you set out to change the world bit by bit. 