Titan Comics 2016
Written by George Mann
Illustrated by Alan Quah
Coloured by Komikaki Studio feat. Norah Khor TCS
Lettered by Rob Steen
One of the things I love about this is that while I’m not a video game person I can thoroughly enjoy this story on it’s own. I did google the game to see what it was about and it’s accolades so what are getting here is not really available in the game that’s a solid background of this world and what happens it in. Sure the game is left up to the player to interpret but I like this overview and history we’re getting. So it’s nice to see that this is something more obscure given more life.
What George does here to get us involved in the story is very good. I like the old parchment scroll that kind gives you the quick recap version of where they are in this world right now and how that came to be. It’s enough to wet the whistle as it were while still leaving a lot of gaps open to explore either down the line or in another possibly limited series.
I’m blown away by what we see from Alan here. The attention to detail is beyond what I was expecting. Each page, panel and scene just comes to life and the use of backgrounds which I feel are very important make the entire page a work of art. The colouring is soft, and casts this kind of glow that makes you feel like you are dreaming or watching a world where a quest such as this is epic. Which it kind of is and Alan’s eye for the flow of the story through the pages is exceedingly on point as are little visual clues to characterization.
This issue does two things for me A. obviously it introduces us to the series in a way that is immediately interesting, complicated and just a little ambiguous and B. it engages my mind so that I think things that may or may not be true and i’m kind glued here waiting to see if something happens that proves me right. I kind of ignore the armour and the Knight and Scryer thing though I love a good D&D based story and instead focus on the characters themselves and how they interact here. The focus gets shifted in a way that you don’t expect and it’s fascinating.
This will be one of those dark fantasy action/adventure thrillers as we can clearly get a taste for that here. The journey that our Knight and Scryer are about to undertake will undoubtedly be wrought with great peril that will continue to define them. I look forward to meeting new friends, foes and exploring this world through their eyes as well learning more about this curious condition that afflict Fira, our Knight not to mention why she’s even out doing this to begin with.
I think Titan Comics continues to take surprising properties and bring them to life in new ways that further enhance what’s already there. They continue to prove they are a company that deserves your attention. This is a strong and beautiful debut whose premise and art may end up haunting you.