For the first time in history, the world looks to science for a way out of hell! The newly formed Royal Society are enlisted by the British Government and the Military Establishment to contain a pandemic that has consumed London and threatens the world. Enlisted to search for answers - and hope! But when science is ignored, the bravest are silenced and even the truest can be corrupted - everything is at risk and nothing is as it seems! Question what you know! London will burn, but was the fire misfortune foreseen or planned? Who is in control and what is to gain? Discover the sinister truth behind the history of the City and the Society that changed the world!
Upon seeing the setting for this story, I was a little intimidated by the idea of the time period. History was never my strong point and I was concerned I wouldn't have an interest in an English history adaptation, particularly the Black Plague! However, after reading the first two issues, I was pleasantly surprised with how entertained I was.
The story really captures this very dark and sinister tone, focusing on the struggles of the common man through starvation and disease. We see people desperate to leave the infected areas and the harsh government preventing anybody that doesn't have a paper to stay. One of the fascinating aspects of this story is how the government responds to such a catastrophe, in a merciless fashion, they believed the answer laid in creating firepits around the infected areas of the city.
There's one particularly powerful moment that shows a plague doctor entering an infected home where he encounters an ill child. The young boy tells the doctor how his parents and sister are unwell. The doctor reassures him that he'll return the following day with a cart to help them. As soon as he leaves, he turns to his subordinates and orders them to burn the house immediately. This really captured the mindset for how determined the government were to contain the Plague, even if it meant killing innocent people in the process. It also delves in to the perspective of the plague doctor who believed he was doing this for a higher purpose, "And for my services, once again the Lord has rewarded me and kept me safe. Ready to serve again tomorrow!"
Another impressive factor of this book is the construction of the dialogue. Often, dialogue can be very difficult to write especially for so many characters with such different voices, but this book clearly depicts the relevant accents accurately and it reads very easily.
The physical structure of the panels and speech bubbles have been carefully thought out as to not get in the way of the brilliant and accurate illustrations. The lettering is also impressive, the different writing styles allow the reader to differentiate between what is dialogue and what is narration in a very subtle way.
The pencilling and colouring on these issues is very impressive, there's a strong sense of clarity on each page and the concise and consistent artwork makes it a wonderful read.
The only negative criticism I would have relates to the title. I found it slightly misleading, as I thought the story would solely be told from Wren's perspective. This however is not the case in these first two issues, it's told in the third-person viewpoint as opposed to first. It's also told from the viewpoint of other characters additional to Wren. It's not something that effects the story, if anything it fleshes the story out very well, but I wonder if there was scope for a more relevant title, given the storyline and theme.
To recap, I thoroughly enjoyed these issues and it was interesting to see a historical piece reimagined and also refreshing to see it in a comic book format. I strongly anticipate, this is the beginning of an interesting story and it'll be fascinating to see where it goes in later issues.
It's very difficult to categorise the genre for this story as it is predominantly based on historic events, however, I would place it in the fantasy box purely due to the theme of the story and some of the more mature content.
Even if you have little knowledge of the history, I would recommend this book to the mature fantasy readers.
Rating: 5/5
Head on over to www.pottyville.co.uk to purchase issue number 1 of Wren. There is also a prelude that's available for FREE!
Kickstarters for issues one https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pottyville/wren-issue-one-the-plague and two https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pottyville/wrenii-the-plan are currently closed but certainly worth a look to see what's been going on.
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Thanks for reading, if you would like your comic book reviewed, drop me an email at stewjones22@gmail.com
Cheers!
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