Maiden #1

Maiden #1

Heavy Metal Comics 2021

Written by Michelle & Bart Sears

Illustrated & Lettered by Bart Sears

Coloured by Periya Pillai

A young woman has forfeited her soul to a supernatural force of vengeance, never to be redeemed, devoted to annihilation as completely as her servant, the inscrutable and frightening Hag, is devoted to her. Haunting tales of unrelenting, unrepentant revenge. An epic mythos that spans time, worlds and genre, the horrifyingly tragic curse of the Maiden is written in the blood of many. Maiden is the boogeyman of a new generation.

What an extraordinary tale this is already! There is something to be said about the way the Far East in how their history is so beautiful and yet so utterly violent. The dichotomy of this is on full display within these pages and the dynamic this creates is mesmerising. There are as many different takes on this as their are small/indie press publishers and that tickles my fancy and leaves me chuffed since no two takes are alike. This is what excites me about the medium as we get different takes on such familiar ideas that all feel like they fit into one universe and the level of quality in the storytelling is truly outrageous.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The two chapters in this issue where the first leads directly into the second is brilliantly done. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is exquisitely rendered. The way we are drawn into the story and how it engages the readers’ mind is simply beautifully handled. The character development is flawless and through the dialogue we see we get this amazing sense of who these people are and the role they will play in this story. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, this world and these characters it creates this near perfect soap opera feel.

I am loving the way that we see this being structured. How the layers within the story emerge and take shape as well as those moments of unexpectedness that shock and awe the reader is impeccably done. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is so nice to see as smoothly takes us through the pages.

I have always enjoyed Bart’s work and the style that he has. This feels like something new, it still has his style but I gotta say this is incredibly elevated and absolutely stunningly gorgeous! How we see the linework and its varying weights & techniques being utilised to create the detail in the work we see is phenomenal. While I do believe there should be no blank backgrounds there are very few of those here and I adore that! How they work within the composition of the panels bringing us depth perception, a sense of scale and that 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 colour work that we see is beautifully rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work showcases a great understanding how colour works.

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This is one of those books that takes us on a journey through the Far East and introduce folks to a culture that is so far different than our own. It is a beautiful, sensual and incredibly deceptive place that once you enter it’s realm there’s no looking back and no escape. This is the work of true master storytellers!