‘The Tower in the Woods’
Written by Conor Mccreery
Illustrated by V.V. Glass
Synopsis
Saoirse, a young and stubborn but somewhat charming young girl with a mysterious mark on her shoulder, defies her father’s wishes for her to stay home in search of adventure. During the only time of year when a Witch known as Cailleach hunts children, Saoirse and her younger brother Brahm search for the mysterious witch’s tower in the woods near their home, and end up finding something much more exciting and dangerous than a simple adventure.
Review
The Last Witch #1 is a vibrant and fun start to an almost small scale fantasy story. Immediately, I was happy to be greeted by very colourfully drawn characters and backgrounds. V.V. Glass has done a very marvelous job with the illustration to this issue, and it makes me look forward to what else I will see in other characters and designs. We are introduced to our main character, Saoirse and her friend Padraig, whom she has nicknamed Puddles. These characters talk about the legend of a witch called Cailleach and her tower, telling me as a reader what I needed to know about what this series will be about should I choose to read on.
These characters all had very traditionally Celtic, specifically Irish it seems, names, which was very refreshing to see as it made it all the more fantastical. It reminded me of Lord of the Rings and the choice for the characters in this to have Welsh-inspired languages and names. The dialogue from the characters had accents where we see them saying ‘ye’ instead of ‘you’, which can be distracting but it’s a very popular trope in comics and graphic novels so I have no real issues with it. There was also lots of exposition dialogue describing character histories in the first few pages alone which was a lot to absorb but when reading I understand that this is necessary to keep up with the story.
Speaking of illustration, the transitions between panels, between character interactions and actions, was very eye-catching and something that I have always enjoyed seeing in other comics. It also makes for a fun panel involving Saoirse’s grandmother which was a fun piece of misdirection.
The writer Conor Mcreery has done a very good job in making these characters likeable and unique, despite cliche tropes that we see in a lot of fantasy stories, like the protagonist who is trying to prove themselves to everybody else, a parent who is against the protagonist desires (a very common Disney trope, in fact), the elder character who appears to be wise and fun-loving. A lot of these are things that I have seen before, but the story, especially involving the younger brother Brahm who is sick, makes me want to keep reading to find out if he will turn out okay in the end. The cliffhanger at the end was definitely one of the best parts of this story. It has allowed the narrative to finally push itself forward and it seems that this is where the real adventure begins. I will say, I definitely look forward to seeing what has happened to Brahm, what is truly in this Witch’s tower and what the mark on Saoirse’s shoulder means. I am also hoping that we see her character have something more compelling, now that she has to find her lost brother who is only on this adventure because of her, rather than her just wishing to be faster at finding this tower than her friend. Regardless, it was a nice quick read, with just under 40 pages, and I would recommend if you enjoy simple yet interesting storytelling with very beautiful characters and artwork, and if you enjoy classic fantasy
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