Comic World News

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Artesia Afire

Review by Michael May

Written by Mark Smylie
Illustrated by Mark Smylie

Published by Archaia Studios Press
$24.95

When I reviewed Artesia and Artesia Afield, I mistakenly referred to them as the first two books in a trilogy. I have no idea where I got that idea except that there are three books out and I assumed that's all there was. It's not. After reading my review of Afield, Mark Smylie contacted me and almost sheepishly let me know that there's a fourth volume planned called Artesia Besieged and even more beyond that. He sounded a little concerned that people would think he's milking the concept.

I told Mark that as long as future volumes continued to entertain like the first two did, he'd get no gruff from me about continuing the series. I was still working under the impression though that Smylie had planned it as a trilogy and decided later to keep it going past the third book. Wrong again. Says right there on the title page of Artesia Afire, "Forthcoming: Artesia Besieged." That's not the first time I've been surprised by this excellent fantasy; Smylie's exceeded my expectations every step of the way. Same applies to Artesia Afire.

In Artesia Afield, Artesia finally claimed the title of queen that she earned after rising up against her king in Artesia. I thought maybe in the third book we'd get a story about her having to defend her crown from another usurper or something like that. Something physical. But though there's plenty of physical action in Artesia Afire and though Artesia does have to defend her crown, the manner in which she has to defend it is surprising.

The overarching plot of the Artesia books (aka The Book of Dooms) is the war between the invading Thessid Empire and the smaller kingdoms (Artesia's included) that have allied with each other to defend themselves against it. Most of the other kings in the allied army aren't too thrilled with this new witch-queen and her unrepentant embrace of the old religions. The rest of the kingdoms have begun to worship a jealous, monotheistic god called the Divine King and are either embarrassed or offended at Artesia's pagan sacrifices and rituals. As a result, Artesia is given command of an army of outcasts, barbarians, mercenaries, and former enemies. What she does with this army and how she fights for the respect of the other kings is where the drama of Afire takes place.

It's as political a story as it is physical and even the physicality of it is only partly violence-oriented. It's arguable that Artesia wins her most important battles in bed.

Artesia's primary deity is Dieva, goddess of the mystery of women and of physical pleasure. The Artesia books have all been tastefully candid with nudity and sex, but Afire turns the heat up even more with some graphic, softcore depictions of Artesia worshipping Dieva with a variety of partners. None of this is gratuitous. The sex not only highlights the difference between Artesia's beliefs and those of the other rulers, but it also serves to complicate the plot as her partners are usually chosen for political reasons. It's literarily meaningful and erotic at the same time. Made all the more so by how real Smylie convinces you this all is with a combination of stunningly gorgeous artwork and an amazing amount of background detail.

I've purposely not read the extra background stuff in these books because I wanted to make sure that the story held up on its own without having to look at a lot of footnotes and appendices. It does. I've never felt lost. And I realized as I read Afire with its focus on which rulers worship which gods that I'm starting to remember on my own the names of various deities and what they represent. The background work that Smylie did to flesh out his world is beginning to show up in the story and the setting feels more and more real every time I revisit it.

Because of that, it's nice to see in the extra material in this volume the inclusion of maps of Artesia's world. In the first two volumes, maps are included within the context of the story as characters reference them. I applauded that in my reviews, but it's appropriate that as we get more engrossed in the world, the maps become more accessible. Smylie's already convinced us that this is a real place without needing a special map section in the previous volumes. Including one in this volume isn't a cheat, it's a kindness. The more time I spend in Artesia's world, the more I want to know where things are in relation to each other. And the more time I want to spend there.

This love for his setting and characters that Smylie's created plays perfectly into his plans for an Artesia role-playing game. I'll spare you a paragraph of me geeking out over how excited I am about that, except to say that it's a perfect offshoot product of the graphic novels. Spend enough time visiting Artesia in her world and you'll want to go there yourself. And now you'll be able to.

The only downside is if working on it distracts Smylie from cranking out Artesia Besieged. Like someone who caught up with a TV show by watching DVDs and now has to suffer waiting a week between episodes and enduring periods of re-runs, I'm afraid I'll be craving more Artesia much sooner than Smylie's going to have it ready for me.