Review – The Cold Ever After GN (Titan Comics)

March 11, 2024

2–3 minutes

Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jeremy Whitley
Artwork: Megan Huang
Lettering: Adam Pruett, Taylor Esposito
Release Date: 28th February 2024

Marketed as “a unique fantasy story in the vein of Game of Thrones meets Chinatown” by Titan Comics, Jeremy Whitley and Megan Huang’s THE COLD EVER AFTER actually does a pretty impressive job of delivering on that bold claim. Set in the fantasy kingdom of Patria Lupi, the story introduces us to Noelani Mahi’ai, a disgraced ex-Royal Champion who is forced to confront her past when Queen Isadora – her former lover – calls her back into action to help track down her missing daughter.

While the cover and interior artwork gives a distinctly all-ages vibe, this self-contained graphic novel is actually anything but. Boasting profanity, nudity and brutal violence (including poor handmaidens being turned inside out by dark magical forces, as you can see in the preview below), this is a distinctly adult tale that perfectly bridges the gap between queer romance and gritty detective noir.

Writer Whitley brings a lot of established tropes and genres together here, weaving them around an utterly fascinating protagonist in Noelani – a grizzled former knight who has been living at the bottom of a bottle since the “inappropriate” romance with the Queen she was sworn to protect led to her being exiled from the kingdom. Her relationship with Isadora provides a lot of the narrative thrust of the story as they battle to balance the complicated feelings they clearly have for one another with the urgency of trying to locate the seemingly kidnapped princess.

Huang’s artwork, while perhaps a little anachronistic to the story being told at times, is beautifully rendered, and the Canadian artist does a fantastic job capturing both the physical and emotional beats of the story with equal flair. A flashback sequence early in the book where Noelani dispatches a fearsome dragon who is laying siege to the kingdom is a particular highlight, and the frantic, kinetic nature of the layouts during the frequent action sequences gives the whole book a wonderful sense of energy.

The detective noir part of the story twists and turns impressively throughout the 170-plus pages, forcing Noelani and Isadora to confront their past and the ramifications of the love affair between them that almost split the entire kingdom in half, all while scrambling down a rabbit hole of witnesses, clues and unexpected diversions. We get to find out more about the world Noelani left behind, the brutal religious regime that raised her, and the malevolent threat behind the princesses disappearance.

A textbook example of not judging a book by its cover – not that the cover in this case is anything short of fantastic – The Cold Ever After is a lovingly crafted dose of “Arthurian Noir” packed with twists, turns, violence, sex and intrigue. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]