Archaia 2020
Written & Illustrated by Mark Laszlo
Coloured by Patricio Delpeche
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Within Scandanavian folklore, there exists a vengeful ghost known as a Myling. A man traveling at night comes across a haunting cry from within the forest. He enters it to find a spirit who demands to be carried to its proper burial site. The man agrees, but as he travels forth, the spirit's grip tightens... it grows in size...and the man's gait slows. Can he unburden himself of this terrifying weight before it brings him down for good?
While I haven't really seen any of the Dark Crystal animated features, when it debuted I was a Twelve Year Old boy trying desperately to learn my portion of the Torah for my Bar Mitzvah. So really, excuses aside, I just missed it at the time and I haven't come to really appreciate it until I started to review these comics. The more that I read the more I want to read and the more I appreciate the complexity and imagination involved in bringing this to life. It's a gorgeous world, universe or what have you, it's the Jim Henson legacy world and it's a wondrous place to be.
This is a beautifully told story. When I opened this up my first thought was that this was akin to Fraggle Rock, okay the dog and his owner at least. Still the setting that we see is sensational and I really like the overall mood, tone and feel that this brings. Also I like this storyteller, he appears to be this wizened man who just happens to have this talking dog but aside from that she has this uncanny knack for how she weaves her tales. Just to experience one is to know that the way Mark is telling that it's meant to be this way. There is this subtle yet simple way that this is being told that showcases this real talent for weaving through a story like this.
The way that this is bring told is pretty brilliantly. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented so eloquently. There is some great banter between man and beast as the story moves forward but just the way that the bards of old would relay news or stories in taverns, or just in D&D I dunno, it's a lost art form that Mark somehow knows how to translate into words on the page here. It is really something extraordinary to see. The character development we see is fantastic! That we get such a clear picture of who the characters are and what they are about is amazing. Also that we are getting to feel this way in one issue is even more impressive. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages we see how the ebb & flow of the story can be so deceptive.
The interiors here are so well conceived and executed. I love the linework that we see and how the varying weights are utilised to bring the attention to detail to light. There is something here that I at times cannot quantify and yet I see it and I understand it nonetheless. Though honestly how she gave birth to twins with heads those size is beyond me. The love the different techniques we see here as well with the linework, crosshatching and how everything works together is amazing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work we see is muted and dark which befits the tone of the story beautifully. The various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work are so complimentary to what we see.
This is only the first issue and already I am completely enthralled by what I see and cannot wait until the next chapter is revealed. There is something magical about the way this captures the attention and brings them into this world and as it casts it's spell on you, you begin to realise that this is far from ordinary storytelling.