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Twelve Gems by Lane Milburn review

By Dan Horn
July 29, 2014 - 17:16

"Somewhere in the cosmos beyond reckoning or observation..."

I suppose it's appropriate that I discovered this little gem of a book in my annual pursuit of that "something new" at Comic-Con. Twelve Gems is a recent Fantagraphics Books release by writer-artist Lane Milburn, and the sci-fi graphic novel concerns the hiring of three intergalactic mercenaries for the purpose of recovering twelve enchanted stones dispersed throughout space. The mercenaries know very little about their "gem-quest" or about their strange and possibly sinister employer, Dr. Z.

Milburn's plot develops much like that of a classic NES role-playing game: it's fun, it's adventurous, and it's always presenting its characters with new challenges. Even the premise is a nod to the trivial expeditions a video game might require you to endure, and you couldn't be blamed for identifying the three main character archetypes as Tank, Assassin, and Cleric. Twelve Gems is irreverent, profane, and humorous but also at times surprisingly eloquent and even haunting. Milburn's art and world-building (or universe-building as it were) remind one immediately of the glorious strangeness encountered in books like James Stokoe's Orc Stain, Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit, or Graham and Milonogiannis's Prophet, and like those books Twelve Gems is full of bombastic action and violence as well as gorgeous and consciousness-fracturing landscapes, creatures, and other oddities.

Milburn's Twelve Gems is one of those unexpectedly brilliant little books with a lot of heart and artistry. There are some plot holes, but this isn't really the kind of book where one should get wrapped around the plot-axle too much. It's a swift and rewarding read for fans of fantasy, space operas, vintage video games, and sequential art in general.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12