So last weekend my love of the comics
medium was reinvigorated after attending the International Comic
Festival in Kendal. There were some great events to attend. Hearing
Bryan Talbot talking about the history of anthropomorphism was a joy,
and Peter Doherty talking to Sean Phillips about his journey through
comics was incredible, especially as there was an exhibition of Sean
Phillips' work in the centre (as well as numerous exhibitions
throughout Kendal). Equally as thrilling was the Comics Clock Tower,
full of creators to whom you could chat and buy their work.
It is here in the tower that you get a
real sense of how vibrant the comic scene is in Britain. It is here
that you can come across some unexpected gems. It is here that you
find something like Curia Regis for sale.
At the point at which I picked up this
comic, I was really wandering whether I could justify the expense of
a completely different book. I'd spent more than I wanted (actually
that's a lie – I'd spent less than I'd wanted but more than I knew
my (non comics reading) wife would tolerate) when two books caught
my eye. The first was Widdershins by Kate Ashwin, which looks amazing
and is definitely on my list of things to buy post pay day. The
Widdershins artist was not at the table, but the Robin Hoelzemann,
the brains behind Curia Regis, was and she showed me Widdershins and
then drew attention to her own comic. A little description of what it
contained, and a look at the interior art and I was sold. Three
issues on special offer for the festival were quickly snapped up.
Now as I've already mentioned, I'd
bought quite a few comics already (reviews of which will be appearing
here) but the first comics I read on returning home that night were
the Curia Regis issues. It's been five days since I bought them, and
I've read them three times already. Needless to say, I like this
comic.
The storyline takes place in an
analogue of eighteenth century France. In 1724, with the mob at the
gates, the Duke of Astair kills himself. Twenty six years later in
January 1740, the King Regent's nephew and the King Regent's
spymaster kill each other in a duel, manipulated by the Marquise
Maren Reinette D'Astair. We then learn more about Maren, her family,
friends and motives, or some of them.
The story is very much in its infancy,
but is intriguing in and of itself. The comic itself is quite a
dense, rewarding reading experience. Nothing is spoon fed to the
reader. As an example, the years between the prologue when the duke
commits suicide, and chapter one when the duel takes place, can only
be deduced when, at the start of issue 2 there is a notice of an
auction taking place on 3rd April 1740, and a caption
reveals we are three months from the duel. Following the death of the
spymaster, Maren finds a note with a list of rebels. This list
contains the names of several of Marin's friends and associates, some
of whom are revealed as we read more about our main protagonist. This
is the sort of stuff that makes rereading the issues such a pleasure,
and it provides a certain amount of intellectual satisfaction when
you start to piece things together. A little work gives a great deal
of pleasure, as any reader of literary novels will acclaim.
Aesthetically this books looks
beautiful. A great deal of thought seems to have gone into the
presentation. Opening each issue shows the inside cover to be a
maroon which for some reason strikes me as very regal, especially
with the simple but elegant dark stripe down the outside edge. My
description doesn't really do it justice, but it is something that
really adds to the overall look.
Interior art is very pleasing to the
eye, all clean lines and clear page design lead the eye nicely across
the panels. There is a great deal of attention to body language. In
the prologue we see the duke's servant Timothy suspiciously nervous.
There isn't a panel he in which we see him when he isn't doing
fiddling, or rubbing his hands together, or twitching. It's subtly,
but effectively done. In Curia Regis we never see static figures in
the background either. Everybody seems to be doing something that
evokes the feel of a world populated by real people, of which we are
only able to focus on one particular story. From the second issue the
art switches from black and white to colour. I'm not sure why there
was a shift, but it works well, adding an extra dimension to the art,
with the colours seemingly carefully chosen to enhance the work,
resisting the danger to suddenly make it all kaleidoscopic.
All in all this is a wonderful book to
find. The comic is online here so you can click
and see what you think (and that's also the reason I've not posted any interior art here - go to the website and see it in context of the story). I strongly advise you to buy the physical
comics themselves, for ease of rereading and cross referencing, and
simply because they are beautiful and deserve a wider audience. From
what I've read, Robin has quite a busy job so I suspect issue four is going to
take a while, but it is definitely something worth waiting
for.
