4 out of 5

“I like me some anthropomorphism, but this is probably too fantasy for me.  Plus it’s that Astro City Busiek guy, whom hasn’t caught my attentions before.”  These are things I say to myself to try to keep weekly expenses down; to not add Autumnlands (originally called just ‘Tooth & Claw’ until a copyright blip) to my cart.  But Ben Dewey’s art looked so good and a flip-through suggested that it was maybe just the right dash of fantasy for me (less dumb names, more story), so I couldn’t help myself.  True, I’m glad I didn’t.  While, thus far, the tale told in Autumnlands isn’t a new one, it is told very well ( – and this is essentially what I felt when reading Busiek elsewhere, though I haven’t given a series a chance at length – ) and, perhaps more importantly, I liked the characters, and wanted to know more about them.  So if the shell of the story is recognizable, the guts are fresh.

Dusty is a dog living in a floating city, kept aloft by magic.  In this version of the world, various races can be switched out for various animal species instead, with a notable lack of dat ol’ human animal.  We come to learn that magic is dwindling (for this city and its sisters – numbering seventeen altogether, it seems), and so ‘seeker’ warthog Gharta proposes a pooling of spells to nab ‘The Great Champion’ – a figure who shares in most species’ lore as, essentially, the creator of magic – from the past.  The plan… does not go well, and we’re here to witness the aftermath.

Something that normally keeps me on the fence with fantasy is the half-in / half-out awareness granted to the characters.  Often they talk / speak with something approaching naivety, because we seem to idealize these worlds to only have physical evils we can fight and not the horrors of humanity that cause most of us to half at least some social shielding.  And then when we want to highlight a hero or villain, they’ll be more thoughtful or deceptive.  I mean, it’s story-telling shorthand, witnessable in cartoons and soap operas, so it’s interesting that it pops up in the fantasy genre as well.  Dusty is a pretty perky dude, so I was worried Busiek was taking this route, but as the story develops, most prove themselves to be fully in charge of their emotions and aware of their surroundings, so world-building wise – not breaking the ‘immersion’ – Kurt definitely knows what he’s doing.

The pacing of the story payoffs are also well-effected.  So I shan’t beat the horse any longer: I can’t claim to have been riveted by the story itself (once ‘The Champion’ is revealed, things settle into a place that will allow for many back-story / actionry arc to come), it was told professionally, and in exactly the right tone to keep me invested.

I also won’t beat the art-horse (Damn you, art horse!) too much, since, if you read the letter pages on the issues, it’s apparent we’re universally agreed: Dewey’s art and Jordie Bellaire’s colors are just astounding.  Take a look at the composition of any given page and study Dewey’s breakdowns: the scope and ‘believability’ of this story rests heavily on his ability to make the world eye-catching but not showy; to make it seem like it always existed.  And as we transition out of the city to caves and forests, to note of how he still fills his panels but knows how to create a sense of emptiness or openness.  Bellaire has to meet this with her colors, and there’s some gorgeous and subtle outlining at various points that shows her awareness of layering (back- / fore- / middleground) within each panel, thereby giving Dewey’s work the room it needs to breathe.  Comicraft (John Roshell and Jimmy Betancourt) are credited with design and letters.  However that’s split, Image Comics has the standout design market cornered, and T&C is no exception, once again nailing the vibe of the story via just the look of the covers.  And the lettering is truly notable here as well, with ‘negative’ bubbles and a nice handwritten-flavored font that gives the dialogue that literary twill that, again, fantasy seems to prefer.  The style does prevent the tails on the balloons from doing anything except swooping straight toward their speaker, which might cause some issues if we get too wordy-crowdy, but besides one or two very minor instances of that, it’s another great choice for the book.

You’ve now heard the tale of how my comic book boxes continue to fill and my wallet continues to suffer.