COMIC BOOK REVIEW: A TALE OF SHADOWS – BOOK 1: SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING / AUTHOR: PAUL CLARKE-FORSE / ARTIST: LYNDON WHITE, TYLER WILSON / RELEASE DATE: JULY
Lyndon White is the creator of successful KickStarter project, launched at the end of 2014, Lost & Found, a zombie comic book. Now he is taking another venture into the wonderful world of comics with fantasy series, A Tale of Shadows – Book One: Something out of Nothing. Felix, a bored and naïve boy, gets caught up in a dispute between opposing forces; a religious group known as “The Men of the Way” and a group of rogue scientists and artists, “The Sciencestitions”, who are in disagreement on innovating their hometown. Felix thinks he knows what’s best but soon realises that life is not as simple as he perceives it to be.
Twenty-eight pages of wistful beauty, proving versatility in style, the format is very much fantasy orientated, with inclusion of maps to guide the reader around this new world. With brilliant splashes of colour with exciting uses of a variety of artistic tools, White creates an otherworldly effect; a technique to be encouraged as it grows ever popular in the independent comics world.
Along with co-creators Tylor Wilson and writer Paul Clarke-Forse, a great collaboration has been formed, and White has managed to pull off another success with KickStarter, proof to us all that crowdfunding really can be beneficial to those who need it. Having successfully exceeded his goal of £1,500, those who have backed him can certainly look forward to what is to come. As the first of an ongoing series, this book leaves you in anticipation with rather high expectation. The team can now start work on the second instalment of this new fictional epic.