Written by: Brandon Graham
Art by: Xurxo G. Penalta
Publisher: Image
In order to create a truly memorable world you must make it feel larger than the story you are telling, the reader can’t think that once the characters move away from an area it stops existing. There are many ways to do this, The Lord of the Rings book achieved this well by frequently referencing myths and legends that had little to do with the story, giving depth to the world. The creators of 8 House have similarly pulled this off with flying colours by giving more detail than would be required into how the houses work, history of technologies and methods and the variety seen between different kingdoms and regions in the world in the philosophies they hold.
The third section of the 8 House series takes place in the kingdom of stone and the design of the world immediately shines through showing us a hugely alien world, with cities existing in trenches and towering skyscrapers looking like they’re constructed from square rooms stuck together at odd angles. The bizarreness of the image really brings across the feeling of a living, breathing world. The kingdom of stone is at war with the Blood house (from Arclight) and Kiem is a soldier in this war.
The difference between the two kingdoms is quite interesting, with the Stone kingdom relying solely on technology of science fiction levels while the Blood House make use of rituals and magic. For example, the Stone Kingdom use mechs as soldiers, which are controlled by pilots far away whose consciousness is copied into the brain of their identical twi, whose corpse is preserved in the pilots seat while the Blood House controls a large native species through a sort of psychic link with a parasite. As you can tell, the Stone Kingdom does seem to take a much stronger stance on instrumentality than the Blood House and it doesn’t even seem to just be the rulers, the grunts all accept this. Kiem does miss her brother greatly, as is shown by her continuing need to collect glowing stones which she was originally planning on giving him when she saw him again, yet she still accepts that it was a necessary in order to ensure the safety of her home. This all brings a great amount of character depth in a very short amount of time.
Something that the 8 House series always deserves more praise for is its mastery of subtlety, from Kiem’s barren room and the fact she has to hide her collection of stones says allot of her military’s stance on such individuality in their ranks.The book’s mastery of using small hints to build to a larger idea goes so far that it would be easy to miss the possibility that Kiem is trans (how else would you explain her monozygotic twin brother?). Although an explanation of ‘oh it’s a different planet, therefore different whatever’ could be given, I am happy to see representation of a group that is almost not shown at all in comics, especially by those as big as Image, and hope that this continues on as making a medium more inclusive can only be good for it in my opinion.
The plot of Kiem takes place after Kiem has just been released from a medical examination. After a routine excursion Kiem is chosen by one of the leaders, who no one has seen in the flesh, to carry a backpack West, for what reason neither Kiem or the reader are sure of but I’m pretty excited as it can only mean learning more about the world, its history and the secret behind the glowing rocks that is hinted at in this issue. I do have a bit of an issue as to why the scene in the mechs was upside down, I think it was to convey the separation between Kiem and her brother’s bodies but I just found it distracting and not worth the confusion that it pushed onto the following scene. In the beginning we see a section of the Kingdom of Stone mapped out and I would love for this to be done to the entire world because as it stands, it’s very hard to get a feel for how the houses are all related and i think even just a rough idea of the layout of the world would help make it feel more real (although this may overly constrain the writers).
8 House continues to be an amazing series that brings a world to life. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Kiem and it’s more scifi stance which is regularly juxtaposed against the fantasy setting of the other series. If you’re willing to take a risk and give something new a shot this week, go for Kiem. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed
