Memorial

An amnesic finds herself wandering the streets of a modern city; labeled Miss Em, she has no idea she has a tie to the Everlands, a land of myths and stories ruled over by a powerful and ambitious queen, nor even that the Everlands exists. A chance encounter with the proprietor of a mysterious vanishing shop returns a valuable icon to her; this in turn makes her the subject of a hunt that will take her across worlds and end in a confrontation with her lost past. She's eventually joined by a talking cat named Shroedinger and more fantastic figures who help spice up Em's somewhat underdeveloped character. Roberson's tale of a forgotten heritage hits all the right notes without being incredibly original. Ellis's artwork is somewhere between cartoony and naturalistic, and sometimes displays some awkward anatomy. The basic sense of wonder comes through, however. (Oct.)