White Shadows

Ozanam and Carrion (Temudjin) concoct a brutal yet beautiful medieval fantasy that reads like Prince Valiant scripted by George R.R. Martin. When the teenaged prince of the Kingdom of Etelkoz goes missing and is presumed to have been eaten by a monster called the Nameless One, the sickly, bedridden king orders representatives from the six ruling clans to hunt the beast down. These delegates reveal they’re secretly happy to see the prince eliminated, as they each have claims to the throne. “Alas, only one of us will sit upon it,” observes Lady Megyer. Count Atras stays out of the action as the rest set out across the kingdom; the true scope of his agenda unfolds as the prince’s fate is revealed. Carrion’s classically illustrative fantasy art is naturalistic but full of singular touches, enlivening a tale of intrigue, power, and literal backstabbing. He draws squadrons of distinctive figures against epic backdrops: a towering waterfall, a mist-draped circle of standing stones, a hidden forest village. Color is skillfully deployed to set moods: blue-green gloomy nights, sun-bleached battlefields, the blazingly warm interior of a tent. At first, it’s hard to keep track of the many characters, but as the action heats up and the body count rises, the battle grows personal. Fans of artsy Euro-comics going through House of the Dragon withdrawal can get their fix here. (Jan.)