Canto III: Lionhearted #1

Canto III: Lionhearted #1

IDW Publishing 2021

Written by David M. Booher

Illustrated by Drew Zucker

Coloured by Vittorio Astone

Lettered by Andworld Design

The tiny clockwork knight in search of a heart has found his people’s freedom and has saved them from the curse of the Shrouded Man, but is he ready to face his enemy on the battlefield? After making the ultimate sacrifice, Canto bears a weapon that could defeat the Shrouded Man and free all the inhabitants of the Unnamed World. Now, he races to find a hidden settlement of his former slavers to enlist them as allies in the coming war. That is, if the Shrouded Man doesn’t find them first…

This is one of the best of the best when it comes to comics, modern or otherwise. That David has been able to progress Canto and his personality by either leaps and bounds or gradually depending on the story and what it calls for is impeccably done. His friends follow him because he is a leader, though he often doesn’t see that quality in himself, and his actions and his judgement are increasing more sound as the franchise progresses and this is how you see a leader in action.

I absolutely adore 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 we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter continually flesh them out and we watch them grow and evolve and its glorious. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, the twists and turns and revelations we’re caught up in this in some tremendous ways.

I appreciate the way that this is being structured and how the layers continue to grow, evolve and strengthen while new ones emerge. These avenues within the layers that contain the plot twists, the characterisation and more are shown as either working with the main arc or simply just adding extra depth and complexity to the story makes for a beautiful read. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is sensationally achieved.

I am in love with the interior artwork here. The splash pages alone are worthy of being wall art and as much as I shouldn’t seeing that one of The Fury is utterly magnificent. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is bloody brilliantly rendered. That we see backgrounds as we do delights me to no end and then to see it work within the composition of the panels to bring about the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is mind numbing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a bloody brilliant eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a master colourist having a field day doing what they love best.

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A part of me is sad we didn’t see the witch and the two giants show up this issue, it’s understandable after all she couldn’t have built them bodies that quickly, but on the whole this is shaping up to be another spectacular arc. I have yet to be disappointed by one single solitary issue of this franchise and that’s a feat unto itself. With some of today’s best writing and characterisation and these mindbogglingly brilliant interiors will take you on the journey of a lifetime.