By The Horns #7

By The Horns #7

Scout Comics 2021

Written by Markisan Naso

Illustrated & Lettered by Jason Muhr

Coloured by Andrei Tabacaru

Now an ongoing series! Stranded in the northern tundra of Ataraxy after narrowly escaping death, a weary Elodie and her team travel toward the Arctic Sleep to face the sorceress, Feng Po. But are they already too late to stop her from stealing all the magic on the continent?

This issue showcases just how wrong Elodie is about the Unicorns. I say this because they’ve been captured, they are being used and they have no control over what this Feng Po is doing with them and their power. If and when she sees the truth it won’t wipe away all the anger and hatred she feels but I am hoping it will subside and she’ll see her new friends for what they are, friends who care. I mean she’s managed to gather quite the eclectic party to travel with and while there isn’t another human or from the species we meet this issue it’s still quite the ferocious little group. Just the fact that I’ve gone over this in my head and now here shows just how invested and engaged the boys have managed to make me in this book, in these characters and this world. That’s the real sign of master storytellers when they can get you to remember everything we’ve seen along the way, feel this deeply about those who star in it and you root for the best to happen for them.

I am absolutely loving 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 as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a phenomenal job in bringing us these personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we are swept up in the adventure alongside them.

I am impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also really like seeing how the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how they add such depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably achieved.

Jason is an unsung hero in this industry. His interiors are utterly amazing and the linework is crisp, clean and strong. The varying weights and techniques we see being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail is staggering. The creativity and imagination that we see is bloody brilliant as new species are introduced and are as unique as they are beautiful, even the deadly ones. We see some great use of backgrounds, always room for more though, as they enhance and expand the moments perfectly. 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 show an inspired eye for how colour works.

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Scout is home to some of today’s hottest storytellers with some of the most unique and interesting books being made today and if you need proof look no further than this book right here. I mean the writing is amazing, the characterisation is sensational and all of this is wrapped up in these bloody phenomenal interiors. It just doesn’t get much better than this folks and I cannot recommend this series enough!