The observant amongst my three readers will probably have noticed that the first Tuesday of the month is usually WEBCOMIC HAPPY TIMES, but last Tuesday, WEBCOMIC HAPPY TIMES were not had. This is because the comic I’d chosen to review suffered a fatal server crash before the review was scheduled to go up and may not be back online for a few months. I didn’t have time to write up a substitute review for another comic, but “luckily” the woes of PlayStation 3’s 3.0 firmware update made for an excellent speedy filler. So let’s get back on track this week, eh? (And hope that this review doesn’t jinx the chosen comic like that last unpublished one seems to have done.)

The Phoenix Requiem typically updates on Mondays and Thursdays and is both written and illustrated by the absolutely amazing, talented, and all-around brilliant artist Sarah Ellerton. You may remember my enthusiastic gushing over her work in the review for another webcomic she illustrates, Dreamless.

As of this writing, The Phoenix Requiem is 463 pages in, yet the story is still simple to catch up on: it takes place (cue Movie Trailer Guy voiceover) in a world where magic and otherworldly spirits–creatures of a faerielike origin–were once part of daily life, worshipped by humans as deities of religion. But if you’ve got forces of goodness protecting the world, you’ve normally also gotta have forces of evil trying to damage or destroy it. After a cataclysmic struggle, the spirits were forced to seal themselves away from the world in order to also seal away the Bad Guys, and magic faded out along with them. After centuries upon centuries have passed, we arrive at the present of Ellerton’s fictional Victorian-era world, strongly echoing English and Russian cultures. Magic and the spirits aren’t forgotten, and there are many people who still worship the spirits and hope for their eventual return. Of course, after so many centuries, not everyone believes they ever existed, and even some people who still believe in the spirits scoff at the idea that they will ever return to the human world.

At the beginning of the story, it’s apparent that something is going very wrong. A strange plague is quickly killing citizens of the small town of Esk, seemingly at random. The skin of the affected turns black as the plague spreads, and there’s no known cure or even treatment. Even more disturbing, gruesome, deformed shades of the deceased are rising from cremation ash at night to chase the living, and these tormentors from the afterlife are steadily getting bolder and more aggressive. The military is called in, not to defend the village, but to seal in everyone in the belief that this will contain the plague. As the story moves along, there are sightings of spirits pleading for release from their prison, and even reports of ghosts (a completely different entity from spirits and shades in this universe).

Without magic, science, medicine, and technology govern the path of society. And this is where our female lead, Anya, comes in, with the rest of The Phoenix Requiem’s main characters.

Anya Katsukova – She’s a young nurse who hopes to become a doctor, a rather rare occupation for women in this world. Anya works under Esk’s doctor, and eventually is forced to step up and take his place (you’ll just have to read the comic to find out the full, slightly gory story behind THAT). She’s always been a practical-minded woman who’s never really believed strongly in the spirits or magic, preferring to focus on medical science. But now, she’s finding her beliefs called into question with her own otherworldly sightings, as well as the arrival of the comic’s male lead.

Jonas Faulkner – Easily the most mysterious character in the story, despite his open–and very eccentric–manner. Arriving around the same time as the plague, Jonas is found just outside Esk with multiple gunshot wounds and is brought to Anya for treatment. He’s a very wealthy man who doesn’t want to go back to where he came from, and he purchases a house in Esk. Jonas is a friendly sort of chap, but with a penchant for not always thinking before he speaks. Many of the villagers believe he’s insane, since he not only believes in spirits, but claims to see and speak with them, and thinks the spirits need him to return. (It also doesn’t help his case that he spent some time in an asylum before the beginning of the comic.) Jonas is known to horribly abuse his body, starving and deliberately overmedicating himself, and is also tormented by dreams or visions of his dead, rather antagonizing wife. As if all that’s not bad enough, he’s constantly followed by a law enforcement agent, Patrick Armand, and some of the people of Esk blame him for bringing the plague. His and Anya’s relationship is slowly progressing, though Jonas’ apparently tenuous grasp on sanity and their nurse-patient connection prevents Anya from giving in to emotion.

Petria Grey – A good friend of Anya, Petria is a bit of a former “wild child” who’s not afraid to speak her mind and still has a strong mischievous, tomboyish streak in her. She was abandoned as a child by her parents, and has always done what’s needed to survive, including, it seems, working as a…er…”lady of the evening”…in the past. Now, she functions as a jill-of-all-trades in Esk, doing various jobs and looking out for the well-being of her friends. The person who can calm her down best is Robyn Hart, who took care of her in the past and for whom she has strong but undefined feelings.

Robyn Hart – Another good friend of Anya, though he’d like to be much more. Robyn is a bit of a “grumpy old man” despite his young age, an ex-soldier who tired of that life and now lives in Esk as a caribou farmer. Petria can draw him out of of his bad moods, but he is nevertheless a very serious man. At one point, Robyn confesses he’s been seeing ghosts and other supernatural beings for a short time before Jonas’ arrival. Being around him seems to make Robyn’s sightings more frequent, and that, combined with Jonas’ developing relationship with Anya, seems to have given Robyn a strong dislike of Jonas.

The art is, as you can see from the pictures, absolutely stunning. Ellerton is always looking to advance her skills, and you’ll notice gradual changes in style and colouring as the comic moves along. Occasionally, you’ll notice the minor anatomy flaw, but the artist is an extremely busy lady, and as I’ve said before, this isn’t her only comic project, so it’s quite understandable. That she finds the time to do multi-page updates twice a week on The Phoenix Requiem, and of such high quality, is still amazing to me.

Some have criticized the story for moving too slowly. I can’t say I share that opinion. Ellerton’s developing some complex character relationships from the ground up, and moving at a relaxed pace makes the character development seem much more natural and emphasizes dreamlike qualities of the comic’s art and story–parallel to the way characters in the comic question how much of what they’re experiencing is real. (Besides, the longer the story continues, the more gorgeous art we get to gawk at.) And look, even with creepy shades and plagues, this isn’t meant to be a high adventure story. It doesn’t require epic battles or huge screaming conflicts in every chapter. There are a few times near the beginning where someone’s actions seem a bit awkward or not fully explained, but those moments are much more scarce the further the plot progresses, and it’s sometimes revealed that there’s a valid reason for the person to do what they did.

The Phoenix Requiem is a beautiful story, told by someone who clearly loves her work and her characters. You’re doing yourself a huge disservice to not at least give it a try! Additionally, you’ll notice Ellerton has her art galleries linked on the front page. If you like her work, why not drop by and see some of her incredible art outside of the comic, maybe drop her some appreciation in the comments?

Till next time, happy surfin’, Spwuggies!

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 6:59 pm and is filed under DKM Marlink, Internet, art, webcomics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.