By The Horns #6

By The Horns #6

Scout Comics 2021

Written by Markisan Naso

Illustrated & Lettered by Jason Muhr

Coloured by Andrei Tabacaru

Once upon a time, Elodie fell for a good man named Shintaro. They made a life together filled with adventure, laughter and love. Then one day... it was cruelly ripped away from them. This is their story.

This is one of the more amazing issues that we’ve come across. A nearly wordless issue isn’t all that easy to do and even more so when there’s not even sign language or some kind of interpretation for the gestures. It isn’t just Elodie’s story either because in this issue we also see how Sajen comes into Elodie’s life as well. How both of them bonded with Shintaro and what his death means, although with what we learn in this issue doesn’t exactly align itself with Elodie’s hatred of Unicorns, you’ll have to read the issue to see exactly why I’ve made this statement. This is a really rather emotionally charged issue that deals with love and loss as only Elodie and Sajen can fully relate to, though for anyone who’s lost someone they’ve loved this is extremely relatable to, I’d move heaven and earth to have two women back in my life so yeah I can totally relate and empathise with her rage.

This is amazingly beautifully 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 exquisitely. The character development that we see is truly astounding because there are only four words spoken throughout the whole issue. So what we learn we see through the visuals, the faces, facial expressions and body language and it’s a chance for Jason to shine through with the writing direction and bring the emotions and feelings to the page making himself the most important storyteller on this issue. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages we see and feel the feelings and emotions in ways that if they don’t move you, then you're a cold heartless human being.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificently rendered. Sometimes we forget that talent isn’t something we have to pinpoint in specifics; it exists in how the creators work together and how in sync they are, or the just the overall direction the writer wants to see the story take and how this is conveyed to the artists. How we see the story’s ebb & flow as well as how the story moves forward is amazingly achieved.

Jason goes above and beyond with his work on the interiors here and the linework and who we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is astonishingly well rendered. The way that we see backgrounds throughout enhance and expand the moments beautifully. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a phenomenal eye for how colour works.

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There is a very real reason why this has gone from a limited-series to an ongoing monthly book and that’s because this fantasy series is one of the most interesting, well thought out and intriguing series. With Elodie working with the pair of Unicorns and now knowing what we do, yet, there’s still a chance for a shift in her thinking. With such intelligent writing and strong characterisation and these phenomenal interiors leaves an indelible mark upon the reader.