In the darkest hours, Rose shall rise.
Creative Staff:
Story: Meredith Finch
Art: Ig Guara
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Cardinal Rae
What They Say:
A classic fantasy tale about a girl trying to restore balance to a broken world. Rose must connect with her Khat—Thorne—to become the Guardian the world needs. But things aren’t easy for Rose and Thorne, the powerful sorcerous Drucilla has many powerful and demonic allies—all of them focused on stopping one scared little girl who’s desperately trying to stay alive and do what’s right.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Individually, there’s always a good reason to pick up a book that feature work from either Meredith Finch or Ig Guara. Put them together on the same book? It’s pretty much a requirement. With Rose, the two team up to produce a fantasy series, something that’s still sadly rare and rarer still to be done well, and the opening installment is a flat out delight. While predictable in some senses because it is just the opening round, it’s presented with such strong confidence and ability in the craft of comics that it’s simply a delight from start to finished. Guara’s artwork is always a draw but with what the two have come up with here it really does feel magically beautifully, since working on something entirely new and of your own creation can really get the creative juices flowing.
The story is straightforward in that we have a once prosperous land that has now fallen to dark times. Previously, there were a group of people known as Guardians that helped protect the lands and its people as they were bonded with large Khatz of the feline persuasion. But as time went on these began to diminish in number. A battle was fought with a woman who would become the plainly obvious evil queen and she turned these three pairings of Guardians and their Khatz into her wraiths to command. At the same time, her forces have scoured the lands for well over a decade and have killed anyone who resists and those that show the potential of becoming Guardians as well. Suffice to say, the dark times are here and we know who is behind it. The queen gets some solid pages, and some strikingly beautiful and sultry artwork, with a tale of revenge backed up by skill and power to explore.
Into this world and background we’re introduced to Rose, a beautiful young redheaded woman who is gifted with magic herself, though she wears restraints that tamps down the abilities. Rose is a familiar character at this point, someone who wants to use magic because why have it otherwise, but mostly gives in to her grandmother about this and keeps things on the quiet .Naturally, everything falls apart when the Queen’s men raze the village while looking for rebels, and this puts her on the road that will lead to eventual confrontation. Again, familiar story arc material but Finch and Iguara set it all up so well and confidently that it pays off. We get all the foundational material we need and so much wide open space to fill in the details with, while not overstuffing the opening chapter, that it’s both tantalizing and highly satisfying.
In Summary:
The sign of a good book for me is one that both leaves me excited for a lot more at the end of it but also one that I’m excited to read at the start of it. This one certainly satisfies me with the first and I’m already of a mind that with the second issue I’m going to be very excited to get into it. I was curious and intrigued by it from the creative standpoint going into it but had avoided reading anything about it until experiencing it firsthand. The team here has a lot going for it with the concept and execution and it’s one that I’m very excited to see how far it really goes as there are so many possibilities. Definitely worth checking out to see if it clicks as strongly for you as it does with me.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Image Comics
Release Date: April 12th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
