Review: Sparrowsong by ALXNDRA COOK
How about an adult fairytale with polyamory love starring a magic woodcutter, fallen Sparrowborn and an ultimate evil ex-crow witch, in art with an ethereal Hegé style adjacent, Manga watercolour quality? Then hurry to Kickstarter for Alxndra Cook's second full-length comic, Sparrowsong.
Alxndra Cook is a multi-talented freelance illustrator, textile and jewellery designer, and Vlogger based in London. She was named one of Broken Frontiers' six small press creators to watch in 2021, and Sparrowsong comes off the back of her debut full-length comic Momotekku, which alongside Sparrowsong is and will be published by Koguchi Press (formerly Black Mass) who have been making comics since 2015. Alxndra has also contributed to Koguchi magazine and created several short-form comics, including Wednesday's Child and Kiyomi's prequel, which won second place in 2019's The Manga Jiman Competition. With accolades acknowledged and talented creators introduced, let's get into it.
So, let's start with the art. Alxndra Cook presents a beautiful story in Ligne claire-ish style with echoes of Manga influence and essence of fairytale fantasy. Alxndra creates an air of intimacy with her art and a palpable romantic quality which is very powerful in lending itself to the story. These charming feelings are compounded with her colour work. The grammatically contradictory sounding but expertly blended soft neon pastel wash palette melds the art into a very enchanting eye delight.
There's a whimsical or dreamlike quality to this art, adding to its subject matter as all these elements combine. It feels like emotionally invested art that is leading well before its narrative. I found that to be a particularly interesting aspect. Art that, from its very first moments, invites you into a fairytale, romanticised mindset. Art is most often setting a tone visually for the reader in this medium, but what Alxndra does is push and lead you into the world of Sparrowsong in a most charming and delightful presentation. What I found particularly clever is its disarming ability, which builds its intimacy into racy romance but later also delivers visceral violence, offering quite the mature content considering its fantasy visage.
Visuals commended it's on to the story. Sparrowsong is a mature fairytale-inspired, very loosely, by the Japanese folktale Shita-kin Suzume, and while borrowing some character elements of that story, Alxndra uses the original moral warnings on greed and jealousy to partly invert and play with these feelings. It's a story which shows a strong element of love in greed while also showing the feelings of jealousy to have silly inclinations when self-perceived and projected onto others. In essence, it plays on the connotations of these words, jealousy and greed, while dressing it up in a love story with fantasy elements of magic and a delectable dastardly in the form of an evil ex personified as a crow witch.
Those charmed by its art will be gratified by the high fantasy concepts before being beguiled by its blossoming love tale and touch of exploration of sexuality. It's a story of love and intimacy told in a way that feels intimate and tender at its most heartfelt but also is injected with drama and fantasy action in its later half. As such, the pacing of this story works really well in holding this as an engaging read. Although its initial imagery and content are high fantasy-fairytale, there are certainly more mature themes on offer, and its central romance triangle could certainly be perceived as interjecting a very modernistic element, but in truth, it's really a more universal exploration of sexuality and love delivered with such craft as to feel whimsical.
For fans of fantasy, fairytale, magic, Manga, Japanese folktales, love, romance, exploration of sexuality, crow witch stalking exes, fishing instigated fornication, male nudity, purple-haired mythical Sparrowborn sirens of seduction engaging in throuple cohabitation, woodcutters, foraging, falling stars and "father of mindfulness" quotations in art that delivers on intimacy with romantic fantasy dreamscape and charming palette provisions Sparrowsong will do you no wrong.
To get your hands on a copy, head to the Kickstarter here now for the ongoing campaign with a host of great rewards, including physical copies, art prints and Alxndra's previous book, Momotekku. For all things Alxndra Cook, search your favourite socials @alxndracook or check out https://alxndracook.com/.
Review: 4/5
