Written by: Kurt Busiek
Art by: Ben Dewey
Publisher: Image
March was only an okay month, lacking in the fact that there were no new The Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw comics to read. Ah, if only issue 10 had come out then! Then March would have been amazing. Well, at least there’s April, though I’m writing this while sick so April kind of sucks.
At least we have a new TA:TaC comic to read!
Also, all that slow pacing I’ve been complaining about since Issue 6 is starting to pay off. Praise the magic! (Or Learoyd, since he’s supposed to be the chosen one.)
We begin our latest chapter in talking animal people with Learoyd and Dusty hiking up one of the oldest mountains in the Autumnlands world—older than the gods themselves, if the stories are to be believed. Everything over the last three issues is starting to come to a head, with not only sickness spreading but outright mutation. Those cute frogs on the cover? Yeah, one of them has a second head if you hadn’t noticed.
That’s never good.
They stumble upon a foul-mouthed goat named Dirty Bertie (YES!), and then two big things happen, the first involving a large explosion and the second magic. Come to think of it, this might be one big thing. Either way, it was a big thing!
In my last review, I talked about Dusty maybe starting a decline in his character development, going from naïve and hopeful to something less wholesome. As of Issue 10, that was wrong. He’s still got his charm about him, and now that I think about it, I’m glad. I hate to see him suffer. I don’t expect him to get out of this story unscathed, either physically or emotionally, but right now, I’m glad he’s still a summer child.
And he isn’t without his own development in this issue anyways, it’s just more of a level up.
Learoyd hasn’t changed at all though, which is maybe a problem if you want your characters to really change, but I’m not certain how that works with comic books yet. I’ve only followed two big series (this and Wayward), and character development usually isn’t something you can measure chapter by chapter. No, that kind of evolution is something you consider when you’re done and looking back on the series as a whole, which won’t happen for a—hopefully—very long time from now.
He maybe swears more than normal though. There’s actually a lot of cursing in this chapter, and it’s a hair distracting. I like a good curse word, don’t get me wrong, but they have to be used carefully. Here, they’re kind of everywhere.
You know what else is kind of everywhere? Amazing artwork!
(Why yes, I will take my award for best segway ever, thank you)
Alright, listen: When you get right down to it, TA:TaC #10 is really good just like all the others. The story is going forward, and in this case, faster than normal. Awesome. But like with Wayward, I can only imagine that if you’ve made it this far, you’re going to keep reading. This means that I’m giving this comic my big ol’ stamp of approval and not reviewing any more of them. There’s no point in drunkenly repeating myself over and over.
I attempted to do a series of essays with each new Wayward installment, though I mostly failed there. I’m going to make that promise with this series, andgiven my more extensive history with high fantasy, I think I can actually it. Hopefully.
Either way, I won’t be done screaming the praise of this comic; I just won’t be sticking a score at the end.
