The Darques Soulside #2 (of 2)

[Dallow Spicer1]

A decent enough conclusion to this 2 parter from FVL.

Starts off slow and the art by Sergio Monjes was a big step down from the artist in issue #1. As a result I had to re-read the first few pages to figure out what was going on.

Good plot twist which I didn’t see coming was that Sandria was behind a plan to keep Darque in Soulside. Darque and Sandria battle, Sandria gets the better of it but Darque manages to escape and is brought back to Liveside (I think) by Augustus Silk. This then leads into Resurgence.

3.5/5 - the art let the book down to a degree. Worth picking up and reading though.

[buff-beardo]

Starts off slow. That’s rough for a 2 issue miniseries. No time for slow with 48 pages to work with.

[grendeljd]

Sorry to say it, but I thought this issue was not as good as #1. Not sure why they couldn’t keep the same artist for these two issues, but it hurt the overall quality of the story in my opinion. And while I am a fan of FVL and thought the first issue had a good moody story going on, this issue felt very rushed with some confusing dialogue and narration, plus a distinct lack of key narration at times to help it along. Less is not more when it’s not clear what is even happening.

There are a lot of static panels with flat perspective throughout this issue that really impacted the presentation & flow of the story. That’s not the case on every page, and there are some good dynamic action scenes depicted at times, and also some solid, emotive facial expressions as well - but overall it’s not consistent.

The moment of the twist/reveal that it was Sandria keeping Nicodemus trapped in Soulside, and that she had killed Aunt Ghoula was severely blunted by the artwork - only one panel even shows Aunt Ghoula, sitting in the background… and it’s not even all that clear that she is dead.

And all that trouble to find and take that dagger, and it amounted to nothing? Dr Silk just yanked Darquill outta there with a machine? I’m ok with the idea of using tech to work some “magic” like that - it’s just an abrupt jump.

Overall it’s still entertaining to read, just not as good as it could have been and felt awkward especially compared to issue one.

[grendeljd]

Also, it was unforgivably lazy that the artist actually used Prince’s old symbol name as a magical glyph representing Darque’s power attack in one panel. Ridiculous! Make up your own magical sigils or use something that isn’t so specifically & obviously tied to an incongruous element of pop-culture at the very least!!

[grendeljd]

[Dallow Spicer1]

Yikes

[grendeljd]

By way of an example, here is a page of WIP pencils from a short story I’m currently working on. It’s an indie comic, and I’m not comparing myself to a published pro or trying to say I’m better in any way - but I did put some effort into designing the sigils myself with a few sources of inspiration. Hopefully they feel arcane yet unique;

[Dallow Spicer1]

By way of an example, here is a page of WIP pencils from a short story I’m currently working on. It’s an indie comic, and I’m not comparing myself to a published pro or trying to say I’m better in any way - but I did put some effort into designing the sigils myself with a few sources of inspiration. Hopefully they feel arcane yet unique;

That’s really good What’s the gist of the story?

[grendeljd]

By way of an example, here is a page of WIP pencils from a short story I’m currently working on. It’s an indie comic, and I’m not comparing myself to a published pro or trying to say I’m better in any way - but I did put some effort into designing the sigils myself with a few sources of inspiration. Hopefully they feel arcane yet unique;

That’s really good What’s the gist of the story?

Thank you! It’s basically an exorcism in a haunted house, and the main character is a Dr. Strange type of mystic. It’s only a 5-pager as an intro for the anthology title it will be appearing in: House Of Spades

[Dallow Spicer1]

By way of an example, here is a page of WIP pencils from a short story I’m currently working on. It’s an indie comic, and I’m not comparing myself to a published pro or trying to say I’m better in any way - but I did put some effort into designing the sigils myself with a few sources of inspiration. Hopefully they feel arcane yet unique;

That’s really good What’s the gist of the story?

Thank you! It’s basically an exorcism in a haunted house, and the main character is a Dr. Strange type of mystic. It’s only a 5-pager as an intro for the anthology title it will be appearing in: House Of Spades

Great stuff! Brilliant achievement and I’m sure it’ll be excellent when it comes out

[magnusr]

Great stuff! Brilliant achievement and I’m sure it’ll be excellent when it comes out

+1

/Magnus

[Ryan]

Also, it was unforgivably lazy that the artist actually used Prince’s old symbol name as a magical glyph representing Darque’s power attack in one panel. Ridiculous! Make up your own magical sigils or use something that isn’t so specifically & obviously tied to an incongruous element of pop-culture at the very least!!

I'm sure it was done as some sort of 'joke' or as an Easter egg type of thing. But you're spot on. This is the exact type of thing I was seeing when I said that Alien doesn't take these characters or universe seriously.

[Ryan]

By way of an example, here is a page of WIP pencils from a short story I’m currently working on. It’s an indie comic, and I’m not comparing myself to a published pro or trying to say I’m better in any way - but I did put some effort into designing the sigils myself with a few sources of inspiration. Hopefully they feel arcane yet unique;

Don't sell yourself short dude, this looks great!

[grendeljd]

Thanks guys!

[grendeljd]

Also, it was unforgivably lazy that the artist actually used Prince’s old symbol name as a magical glyph representing Darque’s power attack in one panel. Ridiculous! Make up your own magical sigils or use something that isn’t so specifically & obviously tied to an incongruous element of pop-culture at the very least!!

I'm sure it was done as some sort of 'joke' or as an Easter egg type of thing. But you're spot on. This is the exact type of thing I was seeing when I said that Alien doesn't take these characters or universe seriously.

Even as an inside joke it’s jarring. Takes me right out of the story. I should go and re-check this, but I think that was also the one and only time a sigil/glyph was even used to express Darques magic power in action here. Otherwise his magic is just illustrated as swirls or blasts of energy, if I’m recalling that right. And that also ends up calling extra attention to the fact that it’s an odd choice to use Princes “love symbol” there.

Ultimately it is still a small thing - I just think it’s a poor choice. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s an example of them not taking the universe or characters seriously, although I think that it makes it easy to interpret it that way. It was likely the choice of the artist to use it, but I think perhaps an editor should have nixed it and asked for a change.