Review – King’s Road #1 (of 3) (Dark Horse Comics)

February 6, 2016

2–3 minutes

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Peter Hogan
Artist: Phil Winslade, Staz Johnson
Colours: Phil Winslade, Douglas A. Sirois
Release Date: 10th February, 2016

Good ol’ urban fantasy. How I used to love thee, before Twilight and The Mortal Instruments came along, and malformed you into the ‘paranormal romances’ that plague our pages and screens these days. There’s nothing quite as much fun as the idea that beneath the mundane veneer of reality, there lies a hidden underworld of monsters and magic. Yes, I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. Why do you ask?

Anyway! Here we have British veteran Peter Hogan’s take on the matter, and thankfully, there’s not a single sparkly vampire in sight. A good start.

The story was originally conceived and presented as a series of shorts in Dark Horse Presents – all of which are collected here, with Winslade on art duty. About half-way through the book, it passes into hereto unseen territory, with new artists Johnson and Sirois taking up where Winslade left off. Perhaps the most curious virtue of the issue as a whole is how seamlessly the two potentially disparate parts of the story flow together. Particular credit must go to the incoming artists, who emulate their predecessor’s style rather expertly.

In terms of narrative and design, however, it’s a fairly traditional take on the reality-collides-with-fantasy tropes, with there being almost none of the book that doesn’t feel immediately familiar. It’s comfortingly told, however, with Hogan’s dialogue – whilst apparently channeling Basil Exposition for a good chunk of the book – flows well enough, and puts across the world and its conceits concisely and without faffing about. The only thing that grates just a touch is the selection of names for the fantastical characters – all seemingly pinched from ‘Fantasy Naming Conventions 101’ (a book that I’m fairly certain exists…), and as a result, some if it can feel a little hokey.

The art does make up for the rote nature of the story, however, with a nice contrast between the mundane ‘real’ world and the colourful chaos of the fantasy one, and as mentioned above, despite the change in artists midway through, you never feel like you’re reading two different books.

As a whole, the book is interesting enough, a competent execution of urban fantasy, but with nothing that as yet makes it truly stand out from the pack. It’s a shame that the writer of Resident Alien as well as countless 2000AD tales couldn’t’ve injected a more unique texture to the story. But! It’s early days, and there’s two issues to go, so who knows? But as it stands…

Rating: 2/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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