The Forgotten Blade

“It’s not every day you get to kill God,” laughs Ruza the Unwashed in this visually phantasmagorical metaphysical allegory. Noa, a shamaness, has hired Ruza to slay The Allfather, the omnipotent and unseen god of the Land of the Five Rivers. Noa believes that killing this god will reunite her with her dead children—but High Diviner Tenna is determined to crush her plot and maintain his rule by religious authority. The script by Chun (The Seven Deadly Sins) embraces familiar fantasy tropes (a magic weapon, a journey to a forbidden land to kill a powerful being), but what first seems a magical quest becomes a spiritual crusade, the outcome of which could release the dead to final rest. Fejzula (the Veil series) expertly fills this lush world with mythic landscapes, bizarre architecture, and outrageous weapons like the Forgotten Blade (which resembles electric circuitry). Coloring by Roig and Helz is essential to the design, delineating each land in a specific color scheme, with bold and brilliant hues glowing brighter as the story revs up. It’s intelligent escapism in the vein of Avatar: The Last Airbender that also invites rereading and reflection. (May)