Dynamite Entertainment 2016
Written by Erik Mona
Illustrated by Jonathan Lau
Coloured by Omi Remalante
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Kyra the cleric and her allies Valeros, Merisiel, and Seoni find themselves transported to the Worldscape—a deadly dimension that imprisons the greatest warriors of Golarion, Barsoom, and Earth! To make matters worse, each has appeared far removed from one another, and must fight to survive without their usual allies. Kyra finds herself in the polyglot city of Shareen at the heart of the Worldscape, where death lurks at every corner, and allies of strong character are in short supply…
With each issue that comes out the more Erik manages to impress me with how he’s able to weave all these characters into one story. The spotlight on Kyra this issue is fantastic as we open seeing her heal Sir Mordred of Camelot. Which should have been my first clue as to what was going to happen but the thought that members of Camelot could also be found in this drama made me forget who he was. Thankfully Erik did this magnificently and reminds us who he is.
When we are introduced to the man with the nose ring oh I was kind of in awe. There are so many things, aspects of different cultures that just jump out at us and make us take notice. Of course it probably wouldn’t be so without the work Jonathan is doing on the interiors. I mean seriously the use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the sheer amount of attention to detail here is utterly amazing. Then there’s the use of backgrounds he puts into play that just make this city seem so much larger and deadlier than we could have imagined.
Kyra finds herself in a sticky situation, one that she more than likely could have handled on her own but thanks to the timely intervention of a stranger it sorts itself out nicely. With a new friend and companion in John Carter Kyra finds herself becoming more immersed in this world. Her repulsion to the nature of the Worldscape as it goes against everything she’s been taught and every fiber of her being is wonderfully portrayed here.
It’s not just what we see in regards to Kyra though that should be taken notice of. The characters we see here should also be regarded with keen interest. The fiery redhead in the arena, the Empress and her Wizard adviser as well all play key roles in this story. Though to be honest what that story really is is quite beyond me at this time. Unless the Pathfinder friends are meant to meet and befriend these people and hopefully gather strength to somehow topple this place and return everyone to their rightful homes.
The structure of the story and how it’s paced so that we get these spotlights on each of the Pathfinders as they help introduce us to this new strange world and those that inhabit it has been done to perfection. It gives very little in ways of information and yet allows the mind to fully wander in hypothesis’ of our own making. That we become so invested in what if’s the what is reveal should be rather exciting to see. The characterisation has been stunningly accurate on all accounts as well.
Dynamite proves time and again they know how to do crossovers in ways that everyone should sit up and take notice of.