The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Fantasy and comics seem to be natural bedfellows. With a comic, unlike a film, there’s no reason for a dragon or a unicorn to look any less real than the rest of what we can see, and unlike with a novel, the awkward issue of how to describe something that’s never existed and never could exist doesn’t apply, since the artist can just draw the impossible and let the readers see it. Yet despite this, surprisingly few comics (at least in the English-speaking world) are pure fantasy: many have fantastical elements (a lot of superheroes are fantasy characters, for instance: Thor and Dr Strange come to mind), but stories set in secondary worlds, Tolkien-style, are relatively rare. Even the Lovecraftian weirdness of Bohda Te and the whimsical surreality of Scott Pilgrim are tied to the world as we know it, however loosely, and gain much of their power from that. And perhaps that’s understandable; after all, secondary worlds need a lot of exposition, and that’s hard to do smoothly in comics, especially since the informative thought-bubble has gone the way of the dinosaur. But all the same, it’s a gap in the market, and one that I’d like to see filled: when I’m reading books with words and no pictures, secondary-world fantasy is my favourite thing to read.

So it was with great pleasure that I learned that Terry Brooks, creator of the Shannara and Landover series, is branching out into graphic novels.

Dark Wraith of Shannara, is not an adaptation, but an entirely new story that takes place after the events of Wishsong of Shannara. I have to admit, a little shamefacedly, that I’ve never read the Shannara books, though they’ve been on my “one of these days” list for a while now.

Thanks to Dark Wraith, they just got bumped up to “some day soon”: this short excursion into the Shannara saga is moody and atmospheric. Jair Ohmsford must rescue his friends Cogline and Kimber and prevent the re-emergence of the ancient Druid castle of Paranor — but he must do this without using his innate magical power, the Wishsong, for fear that its dark side might transform him into something twisted and evil. The age-old theme of the temptations of power and the danger of fighting monsters for fear of what one might become is brought to life in a vivid and intriguing way.

Adapted from Brooks’s story outline by Robert Place Napton, with art by Edwin David, Dark Wraith of Shannara is sure to please Shannara fans, and serves as a good entry point for newcomers to the saga — I’ve certainly had enough of a taste to want more.

Another recent release is Lars Brown’s North World, which takes a rather different attitude to epic fantasy. The North World is not exactly a secondary world: it’s our world, sort of, except not quite. The technology is less advanced, for one thing, and for another, there are demons and talking bears and suchlike beasties terrorising the populace, and vagrant warriors who wander from town to town battling them. North World is about one such warrior, Conrad Lionel, who takes up the task of disposing of a demon-summoner who just happens to be located in Conrad’s home town — the town he left behind seven years ago and hasn’t returned to since. Although it has its fair share of action, the focus of North World is emotional: Conrad’s return to his childhood home brings up dark memories and prompts some soul-searching. Is the life of a wandering adventurer really what he wants? Is it worth giving up stability and family for the thrill of the hunt?

With both Dark Wraith and North World, I got the sense of looking at one scrap of a patchwork quilt — one small part of a larger story. In the case of Dark Wraith, the larger story is the Shannara saga, which is now sitting on my pile of unread novels looking intimidatingly massive. In the case of North World, the “Epic of Conrad” has only just begun, but it’s looking very promising. Lars Brown has a deft touch with characterization and humour. He knows when to crack a joke and when to let a serious moment be serious; he knows, too, how to drop in foreshadowing subtly, so that the plot can surprise you without taking a sudden leftward swerve out of nowhere.The first 100 pages of North World, as well as some related stories, can be read at the North World website. Check it out: it’s great stuff.

Blogged by Katherine Farmar.