Many funny moments are planted along the story, such as Tom telling his personal manager that he’s losing “his last shreds of dignity.” Just before saying this, he poses to photograph with an underage fan, completely unaware that the snapshot caught a questionable Tommy Taylor’s merchandise poster of sexual content, titling “Tommy’s magic Horn.” It made me smile.
If you’d corner me to a wall (or even if you didn’t) and ask me what I liked less about this new comic, through, I’d have to go with its derivative elements. I find that fantasy fiction building on real cultural phenomenons like Harry Potter is somewhat tiring. Also, the massive integration of classic literature references, may be solid proof of the writer’s appreciation to literature, and how stories are REAL once conceived in the delirious minds of their authors, but it does not appeal just as much to me. I rather have my fantasy less rooted in reality.
The art by Peter Gross is very clear and easy to follow, a much appreciated trait in graphic novels. His style: pencil-like drawings, with uniform bulk coloring. The main character of Tom Taylor was nicely depicted and very lovable, but I did find myself craving for a few colorful and lush panels, to spice up the monastic drawings.
With a forward by Bill Willingham (writer of Fables), a nicely furnished plot in between, and an original tale about Rudyard Kipling at the end of the volume, l find this graphic novel especially fit for adult readers who have read and loved all the oldie-but-goodies classic literature and are okay with contemporary real-life based fantasy.
Article comments
1 - turtlelaugh
thanks for the review and I agree - fantasy should include min "real life" stuff.
2 - Pedro C.
I'm not personally interested in this series, but I do recognize it's an interesting piece of meta-fiction with some fresh ideas thrown in. Anyone who enjoys literature will surely appreciate all the references in literary geography!
3 - Christopher Rose
This comment is posted per pro the author:
Hey Turtlelaugh - Thanks!
Hi Pedro - much the same here - I appreciated the references to other works of literature, but didn't find myself reading the rest of the series... for now.