Written by: Brandon Graham
Art by: Marian Churchland
Published by: Image
For those who don’t know, 8House is a collection of three different scifi/fantasy miniseries (Kiem, Arclight and Mirror), all set in one world governed by eight houses of magic. The idea is brought into reality by a team of five different creators with Brandon Graham at the helm. Arclight is probably the most fantasy based of the three as it focuses on the Lady Kinga, a noble of the blood mages based at Csera-Miasta, who has been forced out of her own body into that of a bloodless (therefore of the lowest caste) alien composed of twigs while another mind has been masquerading as her. For an idea of what Arclight reads like, imagine Marvel’s 1602: Angela the Witch Hunter but without the Guardians of the Galaxy being forced in so hard that you’re amazed the comic wasn’t torn (been sitting on that).
The book begins with Lady Kinga reminiscing about her old life and the ones she loved, it juxtaposes brilliantly with the being in her body spurning those same people later on but it does strike me as odd that no one really bats an eyelash at that, it creates a small dissonance in the book’s narrative for me that isn’t properly explained away. The majority of the book is spent by Sir Arclight and Lady Kinga following her body to the northern boundary, where they see some Death Priests in their land and so Arclight sets out to fight them when the travelling palace of Ieuhm intervenes. This is one of the things I like about the 8House series, it doesn’t hold your hand or stop every five seconds to explain things to you, it states only the bear minimum and leaves the rest for you to figure out or speculate on.
At issue two there are still many questions as to the plot of Arclight and there are many holes of knowledge to fill, I mean we only have Arclight and the twig monster’s word to go on that Lady Kinga is inhabited by the twig monster’s mind and vice versa, we have no idea why or how it even happened but I’m looking forward to finding out. I must admit Arclight was the first 8House book I’ve read but the world that they are set in is so interesting and strange I was compelled to seek more of it out.
Maria Churchland does a fantastic job with the art. With the story being as slow-paced as it is, it’s her beautiful visuals that will keep you going through the series. If I had to find the best comparison as to what you would see here I would point to Yoshitaka Amano’s work on Final Fantasy, with the use of effeminate male protagonists and slightly tom-boyish looking females as well as the use of light line work and pale colours. The last few panels at the end of the issue with Arclight in armour, looking across at the being in Lady Kenga’s body by far brings this across the most.
8House is a perfect example of why I love independent comics; it’s an amazing world that you couldn’t see brought to life with the same passion through a non-creator owned publisher and is shown to you through perfectly executed moments that just wouldn’t come across as brilliantly in any other medium. I look forward to seeing what future installments have in store and recommend that you pick it up.
