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The Field on the Edge of the Woods

By Tao Mori
May 3, 2011 - 10:55

The story focuses more on the White Rider’s story than that of Gary, as Gary used to be a film producer and the White Rider is trying to pitch his story to Gary. The White Rider’s story is about him trying to retrieve an important package that was stolen by one of the dark nasties. The White Rider is assisted by a few others who try to help him.

    This was a comic that took me a bit by surprise as I had not expected much when I first saw the cover of this book, clearly a case of judging a comic by its cover. Though we get to know little about Gary, we find some empathy with him as he finds himself in the afterlife and being pursued by dark nasties who want him to become one of them. It’s weird that I enjoy reading things where I have no idea what is actually going on as there’s a ton of backstory that we as the reader do not know. I still feel compelled to get dragged into this mystical world and to find out what’s so damn important in that bloody package, which they don’t tell us about by the end of the issue. I hope they will in a further issue, you can find more information about this series at their website filmsandcomics.com where I believe you can buy the issues.

    As for the characters in the story, the Governor character or Pilate is by far my favorite, apparently he’s some Greek historian or philosopher, but in this piece he’s the tough guy. Phenoa is rather bad ass too, and though we know little about who these people are (in the context of the comic) we get a sense of who they are in terms of importance. There are stark lines that are drawn between good and evil and I get the feeling that Pilate and Phenoa fit somewhere in-between. This is a distinction that I like as I feel that lines between good and evil are never quite as black and white as it is often laid out to us, well generally speaking anyway. It’s good to see some level of balance and perhaps nature is the balance? I don’t know if that’s what the author meant, but that’s part of the impression I get from this forest lady that plays a part in the events of this afterworld.

    The beginning of the White Rider’s story is oddly comedic as the title of his story is “How I got my ugly face” and then there are other elements of this story that are also comedic. What’s something to consider is that if our Grim Reaper looking White Rider is the same White Rider of the story, then he has changed a great deal. As the White Rider had no sense of the humor when we’re introduced to him. In some ways the Governor has more in common with the White Rider (Grim Reaper) of the present than the White Rider of the past has, well in terms of characteristics that is.

    The artwork in this piece is rather well done as well. Great drawings, shading. The little nasties are drawn quite well, each having their own distinct clothing or set of horns. The Wild Boar creatures are drawn well, they look quite fearsome. The artist pays attention to the little details as well as the gear that’s drawn on the White Rider’s horse in the beginning is very intricate. As are the clothes that Pilate and Phenoa wear. The drawing all around is quite good and it was a more realistic look to it, which lends better to the atmosphere of the story than if it were more cartoon like.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12