First let me start by giving all the people involved their due respect. All of these names appear on the cover but there is no explanation or title so I’m not sure what their individual involvement is. With that said here are the credits; Ray Chou, Vincenzo Ferriero, Dia Ja, Anny Maulina, Bryan Valenza, and Nic Shaw.
Being a writer myself I usually start with the story and work my way to the art but for Glow I have to switch it up a little and start with this truly unique art. Glow is nearly perfect mix of styles that include pieces of anime and more traditional comic styles. The character design and visual world building is second to none. I feel one of the styles is born from iconic stuff like Avatar the Last Airbender, in fact, I feel this is done so well it as a comic I would love to see what it would be like as a cartoon. The style similarities I see is fairly evident in character design but not close enough to feel like a rip off, again, the style is a wonderful mix and has its own style despite my comparison. The character and world design is fresh and new. As an indie lover this books creativity is exactly why I search out indie projects. The aspects of anime and fantasy a truly original and every page has been fun to look at.
Even with these excellent artists and their dominant styles this book wouldn’t be worth much without a compelling story being told. I saw a social media comment once and it said something to this effect, “good art may sell one, maybe even two issues, but if you’re selling the third then they like what their reading.” I couldn’t agree more. Right from the start the world is distinguished from anything else with main characters and world that their in. They face off with original creatures and the world’s mythos sort of falls into place as the duo come back to their little town. The world building is compelling on both fronts, art and story, making for a truly fun combination. What the writers have done in starting off small is leave plenty of room for more and slow burning the plot so as a reader there isn’t too much, this basically turns the first few books into an introduction of the world, and in my opinion that is perfect for a new series because it gives readers a chance to become invested. By allowing the story to unfold organically the reader gets a chance to become familiar with the world and the characters, a new IP doesn’t have the luxury of jumping in head first because people aren’t familiar yet and the writers must have known that because this first book is a solid introduction.
This is a Kickstarter that I backed and I only did the digital reward because I was already at my limit for Kickstarter money but now after getting the digital reward I wish I would have gotten the physical and PDF. This is a Mythopoeia book and the PDF is available now, not sure when or if the paper is coming but since it was a Kickstarter reward I assume Mythopoeia will have it available shortly. I sure hope they do anyway because I want to pick up a copy myself!
