So, my bid for November 2023 is
Chirault by author
Ally Rom Colthoff, a.k.a. Varethanehttps://chirault.sevensmith.net/?comic_id=0Chirault is a finshed graphic novel which run from 2007 to early 2018. Seems like I always recommend finished works! It has both good and bad sides. Good obviously that we know it will reach its destination, but it's sad that we miss the opportunity to watch the work grow. Obviously the story comes off differently read as a whole or one page at a time.
Plus it's sometimes sad to see the memory of the community, when a nice one used to be present. This is the case for the latter (about) half of Chirault. In the early years the comment section is more or less empty, but towards the end there is some discussion. I strongly recommend these, because the author participates a lot and answers questions, offering many clarifications. There are also lot of links to previous pages related to the point at hand, so it really is useful for understanding what is going on at some points. And I would have loved to join the speculation bandwagon, and there were numerous comments I wanted to reply to. But it doesn't make much sense to reply to discussions from 8 years ago, so no.
Anyways, Chirault is wonderful! I found it linked by Castoff, and was mesmerized by it! I read the around 1300 pages over a few days. It's high fantasy, with demons and demon hunters (in certain cases, the same person), mages, tree spirits with extremely cool design, the world in mortal peril, etc etc. The short synopsis from the about pages says:
The world is not a peaceful place. A young half-demon named Teeko has been forced from her home, and to make matters worse, is now the size of a squirrel thanks to a wayward magic spell. Her only protection is the demon-hunter Kiran, who is a demon himself and lacks patience for children. Together, they must seek the help of a mage to reverse the spell on Teeko...
...But the Mage Guild has problems of their own; they've created an enchanted orb with the power to destroy cities and must find a way to control or dismantle it, before it's too late. The art is near-grayscale in traditional ink and markers. I say near-grayscale, because there are many pages with very subtle shading with just a hint of tone in some of the markers used. Chapter covers plus a mini-story set in the middle of the main story are in colour, along with a few special pages.
What I love about it? * The characters. There are such great character arcs and believable character development. Characters and their motivations are not black and white, and just like in life it's not very clear who is on the same side, let alone who are the "good" or the "bad" guys. Also side characters and even fairly minor ones get shades and backstories. Very well done.
* The world. The world is fascinating and the world building well done. A lot remains mysterious, but enough information is given to understand what is going on. Perhaps not all the time, but eventually
* The developing art. The art is ok in the beginning, but obviously develops so much over the 10+ years of the comic's run. Very interesting to see!
What I like less?* On its own website some of the pages are a little hard to read at least on my iPad. I assume more so on a phone. There were some mentions that on Webtoon there are higher resolution pages, but I haven't looked. This was a problem for only a few pages though.
* At certain points it gets a bit overly complicated. Reading the comments may help, as Varethane sometimes clarifies how things are related. On the other hand it's great to see the mystery unfolding, but at some points it was a bit frustrating. Definitely wort barreling through, however!
Content warningsThere are some under the cut. Openly I feel like I must mention
body horror.
* Body horror. Depending on what gives you the squick it may be quite extreme in places. What actually happens isn't probably worse than in SSSS but is presented in a way that brings it closer to the reader, at least for me
* Character death
* Mortal danger to a child
* Threat of loss of self
There is no nudity, sexual innuendo, foul language or substance abuse.
Note: Almost all pages have alt-text, which according to the comments is oftehn hilarious. I didn't see it on my iPad, I wonder if I need to re-read on my computer just for it
