Michigan is a highly engaging and thoroughly enjoyable graphic novel recounting of the story of how a Parisian woman came to live in Michigan in the aftermath of the Second World War. It is also, simultaneously, a look at contemporary America from a French perspective. This is accomplished by Michigan's narrative having two interwoven threads. One is the story of the travel of a grand niece of Odette – the war bride in the title – and her husband, Julien – presumably the author – and their child from Paris to Michigan to meet Odette and her daughters. The second is the story of how Odette came to America. The weaving together of these two strands is part of the pleasure of the text, the other is Varela's art, which fits the story to a T. His choice of employing the limited, and notably French, tri-color palette of pastel blue, pastel red and white throughout serves to preserve the French perspective in readers' minds while the story moves back and forth between France an the USA.
