A world of complex magic in desperate need of salvation.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kurt Busiek
Art: Benjamin Dewey
What they say:
In the world of The Seventeen Cities, magic is slowly failing. And with its failing will come famines, destruction and war. Can one wizard’s audacious, desperate plan to retrieve an ancient champion from the past revive the power of magic and save the cities above the plains?
Content: (Note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers.)
I’m not much of a fantasy guy. I’ve always preferred spaceships and light speed to swords and spells. If I dive into a fantasy property, it’ll usually be something much more deep and complex than Harry Potter, something such as Game of Thrones, which I am an immense fan of. It bothers me when Magic lacks rules, costs, or simply dips into a story to resolve plot. In Harry Potter, magic often works simply if you want it bad enough. In Game of Thrones, magic has a heavy, complex cost for its user. Cost equals conflict, conflict makes for a better, more involved story.
But regardless of its fantasy theme, Tooth and Claw caught my eye, not least of all because of the generous 48 page, ad-less and three dollar first issue. (Thanks Image.) Taking place in the world of The Seventeen Cities, giant floating urban sprawls held aloft by magic shields, Tooth and Claw follows Dunstan, a young merchants apprentice. The lives of everyone in the Seventeen Cities and the plains below revolve around magic. They secure food with it, power their homes with it, and generally can’t do without it.
The problem? Magic is slowly disappearing from the world, prompting a group of wizards to attempt a complex and dangerous ritual to reach back in time and retrieve the Great Champion, the being that originally opened the doors of magic to the world, and get him to repeat his miracle, but as can be expected, things don’t work out so well.
I’m being heavy on the exposition here, but that’s reflective of the issue itself. Busiek makes efficient use of all 48 pages in building and tactfully pacing out the world of Tooth and Claw. And that doesn’t mean just the nature and role of magic. Things in the Seventeen Cities are complex historically, politically and racially, (did I mention all the characters are anthropomorphized animals?) That’s the meat of the first issue, laying the world out for you like a buffet.
While the big info display that is the first issue makes for some creative and engaging reading, it does suffer in the character department for it. The protagonist, Dunstan, narrates the issue but overall doesn’t do much plot-wise, and frankly comes off as a bit annoying and mewling in his naiveté. (That looks to be changing for the next issue, however, given the events at the end of the first) Gharta, the warthog wizard that leads the ritual to summon the Great Champion, actually takes up more space story-wise, and her struggle is just more interesting than Dunstan’s. That being said, Busiek nails the issues final arc and has me hooked for the next issue.
From an art standpoint, Tooth and Claw is gorgeous. Dewey’s excellent lighting work and soft, painterly tones harkens back to the Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy art of the 70’s and perfectly suits the magic, animal-oriented world. The spell-effects towards the end of the issue are particularly vibrant and effectively done.
In Summary:
This is an extremely solid beginning of what’s looking to be a lengthy fantasy epic, and stylistically feels like a mixture of the historical and political complexity of Game of Thrones and the enticing magical systems of… something with lots of magic in it. I did mention that I don’t read much fantasy, yes? Anyway, pick this one up. It’s… magical. (Sorry.)
Grade: A
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics
Release Date: November 5th, 2014
MSRP: $2.99
