The Aftershock Advisor: MATT LOWDER Looks At OBERON

GUEST REVIEW BY RUN THE COMICS 5K MEMBER  - - MATT LOWDER

OBERON #1 -#5 (Aftershock Comics, February - July 2019)  Writer: Ryan Parrott. Artist: Milos Slavkovic. Letters: Charles Pritchett. Also available as OBERON, VOLUME 1: THE KING OF LIES (August 2019) Order Code JUN 191361.  Matt's rating: THREE out of a possible FIVE STARS. 

Overall, this was a worthwhile find in the "boxes on the floor" at Captain Blue Hen Comics (Newark, DE). Five comics in one bag for five bucks by a great publisher!

OBERON, both the comic book and the anti-hero within, is majestic, manipulative, Shakespearian, and drips of "Labyrinth" and "Princess Bride," while not quite reaching the heights of either. The language and sense of place are the highlights, with lush illustrations of classic fantasy landscapes, fae creatures, trolls, witches, goblins, and frogs wearing tiny adorable guard outfits with shields. 

OBERON is "Through the Looking Glass" where the human girl getting pulled into the world is not the main character really, and doesn't have all that much agency. The book failed to suggest strongly enough for my liking whose story we're really following. It wasn't until the second issue I figured out the girl is secondary to Oberon's goals, which was unusual but unique. 

So Oberon is the star of OBERON, a debonair rapscallion who is trying to reclaim his rule as King of the Fairies, after being usurped and banished by his once lovely Queen. It's never really explained why the queen hid her daughter in the world of humans, but Oberon finally find her and wants to use her, of course. When Bonnie is about ten she discovers her parents are not her own and Oberon constructs an "I saved you" situation and thrusts himself into her life, pretending to be a hero when he is really a wolf in sheeps clothing. He shows her the magical world beyond she didn't know existed.

If he can manipulate her like a chess piece just so without her getting wise to his plans, he can take back over his Fairy Land, the Queen will fall, the Nevermen can be defeated (re: underdeveloped, never-see-em McGuffin "baddie"), and most deliciously in the opinion of the ruthless Oberon, his lovely ex-wife Queen will never see her magic-capable daughter ever again. It's a book of mustache-twirling machinations and intrigue, with a lot of renaissance style, dresses and long-tail coats, and a heavy use of pinks, purples, reds, and golds.

The book fails a bit to flesh-out characters at the proper time given the five-issue limitation, so the narrative arc feels incomplete even by Issue #4. I was blown away to find NOTHING is resolved in Issue #5, and I've found no mention via the author's social media page or Aftershock's website that a "Volume 2" with another five-issue arc is planned. Insert sad face.

It's a real bummer to be left on a cliff like that -- as the story we have thus far is severely incomplete, and thus tough to grade. It's a 3 out of 5 for now. 

If you like the Golden Compass, the Never Ending Story, or Maleficent, you'll probably have a good time here and it's worth the money. Just be aware that you should probably wait to pick this up until the publisher announces whether or not the story will ever be completed. A lot of Aftershock's five or six issue runs are much, much more self-contained than this. I finished the last issue expecting that and said out loud to my wife, "Uh, excuse me? What?" 3 out of 5 stars.

A higher score is really dependent on this wrapping up.