Boom! Studios 2020
Created & Written by James Tynion IV
Created & Illustrated by Michael Dialynas
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
Wynd lives a quiet life in Pipetown -- working at the local tavern, out of sight in the secret rooms beneath the floorboards, often stealing away to catch glimpses of the son of the castle's groundskeeper as he works. But Wynd also has a secret... magical blood betrayed by his pointed ears, forbidden within the city limits. His shaggy hair has obscured them for most of his life, but now that Wynd is a teenager they are growing too unwieldy to hide. Joined by his best friend Oakley and Thorn, the groundskeeper's son, Wynd's strange dreams and an encounter with the city guard send him on the most dangerous adventure he could imagine, where Wynd will discover the magic in the world around him and, most importantly, the magic within himself.
I love James and not just because he’s one hell of a talented writer, he’s passionate about what he does and what happens in general in the world we live in. Plus he is pretty cute to boot. He is also very much a voice for those who don’t have one and creates books like this one where visibility matters and folks can say wow that character is like me.
The way that this is being told is pretty awesome and the opening is a great example why. We really have no idea what is going on and who this character or anything like that all we know is what we see and that is superb. Why? Because it generates interest and we want to know what is going on with the character and causes us to want to see more. Not only that but it looks amazing as all hell too.
The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is exceptionally well done. Right off the bat we get a glimpse of how things are here and for a good while we see how the locals are. Throughout the entire issue we are treated to an amazing introduction as well as some darn fine character development. I will say when Wynd takes his lunch and finds the object of his obsession I had to double take to make sure I was understanding this correctly. I love these characters already and while I don’t know if the two will meet, date or what I am already rooting for them! The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages we see how everything works together to highlight how the book is structured and bring us the ebb & flow of the story.
Michael’s work on the interiors here teeters between adorable and downright sensational. Which is pretty much the norm for him. Oh the imagination and creativity we see right off the bat makes us want to see more. And how the linework through its varying weights and techniques coaxes out this attention to detail we see it utterly marvellous. I adore how backgrounds are being utilised throughout and how they not only enhance the world we see but it also provides depth perception, a sense of scale and this overall sense of size and scope to the book! The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellously talented eye for storytelling. The colour work here is great! I like the choices and the boldness of what we see and how we see the hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is fabulous.
This is full of surprises which helps take a charming book to a different level of awesomeness. There are characters you’ll enjoy, that you’ll relate to and others still that you recognise not to mention there’s all kinds of layers to the book that leave you wanting more.