Lion Forge Roar 2019
Written by Adam Smith
Illustrated by V.V. Glass
Coloured by Hilary Jenkins
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Determined to find Arlo, Ludo takes things into his own hands and starts to look outside of the base, only to discover her trail picks up in the most unexpected of places. The further Ludo gets into his investigation, the more he questions how well everyone on the base, in town, and even he himself really knew her.
So Lion Forge has these amazing stories that seem to come out of nowhere and could be set in any country around the world. Some of them actually are from Europe and those are the ones I love reading. We are introduced to a whole new world of writing and artistic style. This reminds me of that and I get lost in this story every time I look at a page in this book. The story itself is intriguing as with Arlo's disappearance and the fact that no one seems overly worried about it, sans her parents of course, and from what we see of her going to another dimension I believe well things are not what they appear to be.
Is that other dimension a metaphor somehow for where she is and what she's going through or for whatever reason did she end up at that specific tree by happenchance? What I do know is that we feel Ludo's pain and his anger and confusion and most of all guilt. Guilt that he didn't stay in touch more that he loves her so much that he couldn't see or talk to her without it hurting him. That much I can see and it's that very guilt, pain and love that he has which makes him look the way he does. In this weird crazy way seeing this is romantic and disturbing at the same time but then I guess under the circumstances that's okay.
I love the way that this is being told. Adam uses that larger page count to his advantage as the story couldn't be contained and make sense in that allotted “normal” page count. This is a blessing and a curse for me anyway as Adam makes it impossible not to become engaged and invested in the story leaving us still wanting more. The story & plot development along with the character development as they weave through, in and around each other, occasionally become one and then separating again is so beautifully handled. Add into this the way the pacing picks them up and keeps everything moving forward, even the flashbacks help the story move forward and it's done with a kind of natural grace I am not used to seeing.
The interiors here are gorgeous. The linework looks delicate but has this strength to it so it's quiet and understated yet does the job of allowing the attention to detail shine through. I am a fan of the way that we see the panels being composed and how the utilisation of foreground and backgrounds are done to create this nice depth perception for us. How the scale of size that we see is consistent and beautifully rendered is impressive. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stupendous eye for storytelling. The way that backgrounds are an integral part of the storytelling is beautifully handled and they really enhance the moments and bring a size and scope to the book. The colour work is so complimentary as well. To see how tired the characters look just from seeing their faces, darker circles under the eyes, the way that light sources are utilised to create shading and shadows just make this that much more. Everything about the colour work and how we see the hues and tones in them to create that realistic feel is utterly marvellous.
I love a story that makes you feel, think and experience. We are thoroughly engaged in trying to spot clues as to what could've happened. Why things happen in the order they do as if in getting too close to answers his way and then out of the blue finding the car and that body that cannot be identified well it's all too convenient. So what is happening here? Military cover-up over the kids disappearing doing something they want anyone to find out about, a teenager learning to cope with loss and love through his guilt? We don't really know yet and it doesn't truly matter yet either as the story continues to wash over us while continuing to be unveiled.
This is what the power of storytelling was always intended to be.