Isola No. 7 review: Dark magic and stranger rituals
Isola travels into new, uncomfortable depths.
There’s no need for pontification here; Isola is operating at the highest possible caliber in comics right now. Brilliant and alluring color schemes, the kind of mystical quest you can really get behind, and art that evokes both manga and more traditional forms, intricately detailed, are what’s in store for readers, and who could ask for more?
Written by Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl, drawn by Kerschl and colored by the awe-inspiring Msassyk, lettered by Aditya Bidikar, Isola follows our heroine Rook as she guides her magically-transformed-into-a-tiger queen to a mystical land where the curse can be reversed. ‘Nuff said.
Image Comics
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Side-quests keep getting in the way of reaching Isola
In the last issue, Rook and Olwyn happened upon a troop convoy and were able to gather supplies to continue their journey towards Isola without being noticed. This issue opens up on our protagonists coming to a giant chasm, laden with those aforementioned supplies. They head down to the bottom of the chasm, where they discover an old mining quarry, a giant stone idol, and a terrorized band of people who have had all their children stolen from them by creatures believed to be Moro. The people invite our heroic couple to dinner, they cross over a magical flower barrier that keeps out otherworldly things, and during the meal one of the quarry dwellers tells Rook how recently the children started disappearing, until none were left. A particularly grumpy dweller tells Rook that she and her tiger/queen smell like her missing daughter, who was the first one to disappear, perhaps implying that magic has something to do with the absent children.
Image Comics
A crisis of conscience is quickly curtailed
As Rook is being told off by the old woman, a cry rises up from outside. Quarry-dwellers have captured what appears to be a half-wolf Moro, and one of the people thinks the creature was once their child. The dwellers prepare to perform “rites” to determine if the captured beast is, in fact, their lost child, and it’s speedily revealed that the rites involve flinging potions on the chained entity, hoisting it into the air above the stone idol, and leaving it there for a whole month.
There is visible pain in Queen Olwyn’s eyes as she watches this poor beast hanging from the sky, weeping and howling, and Rook asks if her queen would like her to free the Moro, although it would probably be in both their best interests if they didn’t interfere with the local customs. They end up leaving the creature hanging there and cross back over the flower barrier, and moments later a gigantic spider-monster examines the barrier, noting the flowers and choosing not to cross.
Next. Finally, a McKay family reunion, in Black Science No. 39!. dark
Well gee, obviously the giant spider-thing is the one stealing all the children, and the poor Moro hanging on the idol is innocent, and Rook and Olwyn will probably have to make a real tough but, in hindsight, simple decision to free the Moro and fight the creature in coming issues. The story is so captivating, the art is so compelling, and the sound effects are so…intuitive. 9.7/10, highly recommended. Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.