I like the breaking up of the review. The art does look impressive, and I like stories that know how to have and prioritize properly emotional moments. Not familiar with Irish mythology so I'll likely learn quite a bit from the faithfulness review.
I always enjoy talking about it since it's a rather obscure mythology and a lot of liberties get taken when people even bring it up in regular conversation. Looking forward to sharing that one as well!
Excellent, thorough review! The art itself looks quite lovely, though I'm not sure how I feel about it only being in black, white, and red. Gives me callbacks to Dynamite Comics' Red Sonja. I feel like since this is an Irish myth there should be a lot more color, like emerald green for the landscape and bright cerulean for the sky. Ireland is colorful and lush! Feels like a missed opportunity, especially since it sounds like this adaptation is marketed towards a younger audience.
Sorry, rambled there for a bit. Other than my gripe with the color scheme, I'm really digging the art style and am curious to check this out for myself. Next time I'm down in Milwaukie I'll head into Dark Horse Comics and see if I can pick up a copy. I always love seeing reviews of obscure books/media, these creators deserve a chance of recognition. Looking forward to seeing your scholarly analysis of the tale!
The color is a really great point! I think keeping it as black, white, and red was to emphasize the Morrigan's color palette. The original Irish source material had a lot more color for sure; most ancient stories feel very "psychedelic" in terms of color and flare, but time after time modern adaptations keep opting for muted color schemes to make it seem "grittier" or "older."
Sep 29, 2023·edited Sep 29, 2023Liked by Ethan Sabatella
Wouldn’t the Morrigan’s color scheme technically have emphasized her more if the comic itself was more colorful? If she had been kept as white with a majority black and some red in a setting with a lot of color, she would technically have stood out on her own since the contrast of an absence of color (black) with the pure light that is white, along with the red would really draw your eye amidst the backdrops of blues, greens, yellows, etc. I think this would have been a better option, since the Morrigan symbolizes death, like the color (life) has literally been drawn out of her. Idk, just my two cents.
I think I also forgot to mention that the comic is from the Morrigan's POV thus how "Hound" is drawn might be how she sees the world. And also good point about if "Hound" did have more color, since even with color she would certainly stand out since red, white, and black especially are signifiers of the otherworld/supernatural.
I'd be interested to see fan art of "Hound" with more color thrown into the mix.
I liked the limited color pallet of the artwork from Hound that you shared, but a more colorful treatment could have worked equally well. I think you are right about the author wanting it to come across as “dark and gritty”.
When you say that ancient sources seemed “psychedelic”, are you speaking figuratively or did they actually have really colorful artwork? We have seen the Book of Kells and similar works, but I thought those were rare examples.
"Psychedelic" was more figurative, as texts contain a lot of descriptions of color. Cú Chulainn's physical appearance in the original saga is also a lot more colorful than how he's portrayed here.
The Book of Kells is also a great example that Medieval people weren't always thinking of or viewing the world in monochrome or subdued tones like we like to imagine it being.
Paul did a color test in an early stage of the development of the graphic novel (https://www.facebook.com/100032374192468/posts/623595868729547/) but I personally think the black and white palette highlights the dashes of red well. Comics as lengthy as this one could have overwhelmed me if done in full color as I'm used to reading manga as a Japanese person.
The thing I like the most in the graphic novel is how Paul drew Cú Cullan's ríastriad as everything he sees distorting into nightmarish abstract images where the color red is predominant. It makes me grateful to my interest in mythology and Ireland for allowing me to find the graphic novel.
I honestly found the graphic novel to be similar to the excerpts from translated Franco-Belgian comics in a 2013 guidebook by translator Masato Hara. It's not just that these comics are colored, read from left to right, and written in languages other than Japanese. I think they also put emphasis on showing off art, imagery, and ideas at the expense of the clarity of the narrative. I wish there was a book explaining different traditions and grammars of comics in context so I could prevent frustration at comics outside Japan not going the way of manga.
That said, I find the prehistory and history of the graphic novel so fascinating that I'm preparing to write a Wikipedia article for the graphic novel with the help of Internet Archive. I'm looking forward to your second review and more news on the graphic novel as there is a film and a spin-off TV series in development as of 2022.
I like the breaking up of the review. The art does look impressive, and I like stories that know how to have and prioritize properly emotional moments. Not familiar with Irish mythology so I'll likely learn quite a bit from the faithfulness review.
I always enjoy talking about it since it's a rather obscure mythology and a lot of liberties get taken when people even bring it up in regular conversation. Looking forward to sharing that one as well!
Excellent, thorough review! The art itself looks quite lovely, though I'm not sure how I feel about it only being in black, white, and red. Gives me callbacks to Dynamite Comics' Red Sonja. I feel like since this is an Irish myth there should be a lot more color, like emerald green for the landscape and bright cerulean for the sky. Ireland is colorful and lush! Feels like a missed opportunity, especially since it sounds like this adaptation is marketed towards a younger audience.
Sorry, rambled there for a bit. Other than my gripe with the color scheme, I'm really digging the art style and am curious to check this out for myself. Next time I'm down in Milwaukie I'll head into Dark Horse Comics and see if I can pick up a copy. I always love seeing reviews of obscure books/media, these creators deserve a chance of recognition. Looking forward to seeing your scholarly analysis of the tale!
The color is a really great point! I think keeping it as black, white, and red was to emphasize the Morrigan's color palette. The original Irish source material had a lot more color for sure; most ancient stories feel very "psychedelic" in terms of color and flare, but time after time modern adaptations keep opting for muted color schemes to make it seem "grittier" or "older."
Hope you enjoy the comic itself though!
Wouldn’t the Morrigan’s color scheme technically have emphasized her more if the comic itself was more colorful? If she had been kept as white with a majority black and some red in a setting with a lot of color, she would technically have stood out on her own since the contrast of an absence of color (black) with the pure light that is white, along with the red would really draw your eye amidst the backdrops of blues, greens, yellows, etc. I think this would have been a better option, since the Morrigan symbolizes death, like the color (life) has literally been drawn out of her. Idk, just my two cents.
I think I also forgot to mention that the comic is from the Morrigan's POV thus how "Hound" is drawn might be how she sees the world. And also good point about if "Hound" did have more color, since even with color she would certainly stand out since red, white, and black especially are signifiers of the otherworld/supernatural.
I'd be interested to see fan art of "Hound" with more color thrown into the mix.
I liked the limited color pallet of the artwork from Hound that you shared, but a more colorful treatment could have worked equally well. I think you are right about the author wanting it to come across as “dark and gritty”.
When you say that ancient sources seemed “psychedelic”, are you speaking figuratively or did they actually have really colorful artwork? We have seen the Book of Kells and similar works, but I thought those were rare examples.
"Psychedelic" was more figurative, as texts contain a lot of descriptions of color. Cú Chulainn's physical appearance in the original saga is also a lot more colorful than how he's portrayed here.
The Book of Kells is also a great example that Medieval people weren't always thinking of or viewing the world in monochrome or subdued tones like we like to imagine it being.
Paul did a color test in an early stage of the development of the graphic novel (https://www.facebook.com/100032374192468/posts/623595868729547/) but I personally think the black and white palette highlights the dashes of red well. Comics as lengthy as this one could have overwhelmed me if done in full color as I'm used to reading manga as a Japanese person.
The thing I like the most in the graphic novel is how Paul drew Cú Cullan's ríastriad as everything he sees distorting into nightmarish abstract images where the color red is predominant. It makes me grateful to my interest in mythology and Ireland for allowing me to find the graphic novel.
I honestly found the graphic novel to be similar to the excerpts from translated Franco-Belgian comics in a 2013 guidebook by translator Masato Hara. It's not just that these comics are colored, read from left to right, and written in languages other than Japanese. I think they also put emphasis on showing off art, imagery, and ideas at the expense of the clarity of the narrative. I wish there was a book explaining different traditions and grammars of comics in context so I could prevent frustration at comics outside Japan not going the way of manga.
That said, I find the prehistory and history of the graphic novel so fascinating that I'm preparing to write a Wikipedia article for the graphic novel with the help of Internet Archive. I'm looking forward to your second review and more news on the graphic novel as there is a film and a spin-off TV series in development as of 2022.