EDITOR’S NOTE: One thing I’ve learned as a fan of various genres in comics offerings as well as a supporter of smaller, indie publishers - - - you need to place advance orders for the books you want to read or risk the chance that your local shop won’t have a copy when you visit. I’ll have more to say on this subject later.
I’m grateful for the digital advance review copies that some publishers send me. I just wish that I could get to them for a review consideration in a more timely fashion. In the future, I’m going to try to spotlight some books I think are worthy of attention before it’s too late for interested readers to place an advance order.
My apologies to MAD CAVE for the timing of this review of POTIONS, INC. If you’re interested in this title, I suggest you place an order with your local shop and/or use the Comic Hub app to do so by Sunday morning May 22 at the latest.
POTIONS INC. by Erik Burnham, writer and Stelladia, artist (Mad Cave, June 8th release date) If you’re a fan of stories involving magic, dragons and detailed world-building then this all-ages debut issue introducing the fantasy land of Primaterra should satisfy your cravings. The story is engaging. There’s a sizable cast of interesting and likable characters (with a few exceptions). The art is whimsical and very eye-appealing in a non-cluttered style. At its’ heart, POTIONS, INC. is a “coming-of-age fantasy story following three siblings on a quest to save their home while going on a journey of self discovery.”
Unlike a lot of books that introduce a new world and clog up the beginning chapters with exposition and necessary details, readers learn about Primaterra via a loving father telling his young daughter a made-up (supposedly) bedtime story. Primaterra is an ancient otherworld where a prominent resident with inventive abilities determined there just wasn’t enough magic, so he made things available to more residents. The young girl, however, was more interested in the tiny dragons her father described as she drifted off to sleep.
Cut to the actual world of Primaterra and an entire industry has sprung up revolving around the creations of potions and spells, which are sold in a marketplace by various reputable as well as scrupulous and deceiving vendors.
Main character Ran belongs to a family of potion vendors but is less enthused about the dull family business and more interested in exciting adventure. He’ll get his wish before Issue #1 ends, but perhaps not in the way he was hoping for. His parents advise him that he just needs to find his way, and suggest procuring a lucky charm to enable him to succeed where his brother and sister have flourished in the potion business. He finds an attractive talisman in his father’s cluttered workshop, secures it to a necklace, and heads off to relieve his siblings at the potions marketplace.
A competitor who is not above conning potential buyers and stealing them away from Ran’s tent, notices the necklace and uses a dragon-producing spell to steal it from Ran. It’s a powerful magic piece that Ran’s parents were charged with protecting, and it’s removal places a curse upon both of them that severely weakens their stamina.
Ran and his brother and sister must follow the talisman trail to an unknown strange land - - 1992 Seattle, Washington. FOUR STARS.
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