Sunday Revue March 1: There Was A War

Hurry Hurry Hurry!
           Have I Got a Show For You Today! 

                                                      Hang Onto Your Hats, Because

This hauntingly evocative work is the creation of Aislinn Evans, this complete comic can be read here.

A powerful and heart wrenching retelling, this is one of the most evocative folklore riffs I've seen. Its base is in the Book of the Takings of Ireland, an ancient Irish mythological work. But don't let that turn you away. This is the story of two girls, the gods who use them as playing pieces, and the war they're caught up in.

Prepare yourself.

The Rating

Wistful and brutal, heart-wrenching and echoing the power of ancient tales. A wonderful work.

The Raves

Let's start, as the creator does, with the story. 

So, I grew up with the Book of the Takings of Ireland as part of my bedtime stories, right? My great grandfather and my aunties and uncles told me about how the great Lough All Crafted slew Balor of the Evil Eye. It's part of my heritage and my heart, this story. (on a personal note, this story has some lines as gaeilge--in Irish--and that shouldn't concern you. But I was thrilled. I never get to practice my Irish on anything fun. Go rab maith agat to the creator for that!)
I tell you that so that you understand when I say this re-imagining of the legend is stunning. In this tale, the young girl (!!!) Balor is cursed into her powers: an armor of stone, and an eye that destroys when it is opened. It is a terrible curse that took the life of her own father, and many of her own clan, before her people found a way to control it.

That way is terrible: keeping young Balor in solitary confinement for her crimes and her abilities. She is pulled out only for battles.

And who are her people? Once, they were peaceful fisher-folk. Now, they are endlessly at war with the invading humans and their patron gods, the Tuatha De Danann. The Fomorii are physically stronger. The humans are many, and they wield magic. The war is horrendously bloody.

In the midst of it, two girls--one human, one Fomorii--make a friendship that blossoms.

But flowers are often trampled in times of war.

In the classic style of ancient legends, the gods play games with the lives of mortals, rolling Fate as their dice. The story is written in such an experiential way that it never feels forced; in fact, you feel the helpless horror of the characters as they realize what they've gotten into. It's beautifully evocative and utterly heart wrenching.  It's also a really powerful exploration of the amoral nature of narrative. With the right story, anyone becomes a monster. A beast. A demon. Or they become someone relatable and understandable. It's all in how the web of words is spun.

I found this story to be a powerful parable on war-narrative and the narrative of colonialism: you watch both sides justify themselves and dehumanize (for want of a better word hah) the other side. Both sides have justifiable grievances, and both sides have glaring blind spots when it comes to their own crimes.  Both sides, Fomorii and human, have lost too much. And both are in pain.

There's so much evocative power in this work that it could easily have been overwhelming. But it's leavened with moments of comfort, friendship, and joy up until the bitter end. (and yes, I mean that literally) The two main characters, Cethlenn and Balor, are so cleverly imagined at that tender teenage point where you almost know it all one day, and no nothing the next. It's an age when the world is so FRUSTRATING, because it just won't LISTEN to you!!! That feeling of fighting to find your own voice and being tired of the entire world's bull is beautifully captured. But so is the tenderness of new friendship, the terrifying and amazing feeling of becoming vulnerable to someone else, and the soft and electric thrill of budding romance.

Yes, romance. Lesbian, interspecies YA romance. In an ancient setting. Ohhhhh yes. Perfectly rendered and absolutely wonderful.

 Oh, and there are some great laughs too, mostly revolving around interspecies diet differences and misunderstandings. The Fomorii are mostly carnivores who live on fish. Humans eat a lot more plant matter than they do. With amusing results in discussion...

Speaking of that ancient setting: the art perfectly captures the Pictish and Old Celtic styles of an Ireland before it had iron. It's a powerful, visceral art style, saturated with mood-setting colors. Rough around the edges, it's designed to bypass the front of the brain and reach right down into the limbic system, pushing all the emotional buttons. And oh my, does it ever push. 

There's a really solid grasp of character design in this work, and body language is used to great effect. I really adored the capturing of teen frustration in image as much as words. I mean, this? This is gold.

This too

But be warned: this work is not for the faint of heart. It is based in bloody ancient legends, and it doesn't shy from that material.

Oh, and it drops the F bomb. Fair warning.

The Razzes

The biggest frustration I had with this story was a classic, and a trap I used to fall into myself. Word bubbles that are hard to follow. Oh word bubbles. How you torment creators. But if your reader has trouble following the lines, they're probably going to be harder to engage for the whole comic.

For English and Romance Language readers, bubbles alway need to flow right>left>up>down, as below.

The comic did get a LOT better as it went on, and a friendly note at the beginning lets readers know that they are reading the work of someone learning the art of comics. So yes, the beginning is a little rocky, but don't let that stop you from taking the road.

The Revue

A powerful and evocative story of hope, war, decision and discovery that will run you through the fires of catharsis and leave you clean on the other side. It's a hard trip, but it's well worth the journey.