By The Horns #3

By The Horns #3

Scout Comics 2021

Written by Markisan Naso

Illustrated by Jason Muhr

Coloured by Andrei Tabacaru

After defeating the western wind mage, Elodie and Sajen have a new mission. But to track down the other sorcerers they'll need to put their trust in the floating eyeball named Evelyn to guide them across the continent. Plus, Sajen has his work cut out for him if he wants to prevent Elodie from killing their unicorn travel companions, Zoso and Rigby.

This is such a great little book. The more we learn the more I think what Elodie believes isn’t what it seems to be. The reader is engaged in this from the get-go and it causes the reader to use their own imagination to come up with ideas and scenarios the seem to fit into the story based on the information that we learn. It’s an incredibly well done interactive story whether it was intended to be or not at this stage. The fun part will be if the reader comes back and sees how the story plays out and if they are right in what they are thinking, and yeah that includes myself as well. I found myself so fully engaged and so engrossed in what was happening and I loved every single moment of that.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter is magnificently rendered. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story it pulls the reader further and further in.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. It is in these layers where we see some dynamic characterisation, new avenues opening up or reopening as the village that send Elodie packing needs her back to save them. What these do is add so much extra depth and complexity to the book and it magnificent to see. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is perfectly well achieved.

I love the interiors here. Jason is such an amazing artist/illustrator and this series just expands his creativity and imagination that we see so beautifully as these amazing creatures who inhabit this world come to life. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail work is truly astounding. The faces, facial expressions and body language on everyone we see really furthers the characterisation sensationally. The backgrounds that we see throughout really enhance the moments while working within the composition of the panels bringing us the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is incredibly brilliant to see. The choice of colours and the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is mind numbing.

​

This book is utterly brilliant with this magnificent writing, characterisation and mindbogglingly brilliant interior artwork. It takes the reader something fantastical, mesmerising and captivating lighting up their own creativity and imagination. There are some absolutely serious and thought provoking moments that happen between Sajen and Elodie and with Evelyn joining the crew with Rigby and Zoso the party keeps growing and expanding in some of the best of unexpected ways. If you haven’t been reading this then it’s high time you started, you can order it from your local brick and mortar or through Scout’s website, trust me you’ll thank me later.