Wolvendaughter, Reviewed. It's hauntingly graceful.

How about the story of a terrible beast you’ll end up having real compassion for while having your eyeballs caressed by some astoundingly beautiful art? Wolvendaughter by Ver is hauntingly graceful.

Here we are with the final of our lucky exposures to Quindrie Press imminent Kickstarter. We’ve already been spoiled beyond delight by this collection and this third of four titles is just another shining example of the exciting and stand out special experiences on offer. Quindrie Press is announcing itself in a ridiculously accomplished manner with Letty Wilson, Jem Milton, Thomas Heitler and now Ver making them something to be truly excited about. Please if you’re intrigued by this review or any of the others we have done for this Kickstarter, then sign up. Just as importantly seek out all of those mentioned creators if you're unfamiliar. Find their social media, check out their other works and open a world of wonderful creation. Then come back here to find out a little more about this particular title.

So, let’s start with the art. In first sitting down to write this review I really felt intimidated by trying to describe it in a way that will do justice to this art. It’s an eyewatering empyrean. To quote from my childhood love “Pooh knew what he meant, but being a bear of very little brain, couldn’t think of the words.” So yeah this art made me feel like Winnie The Pooh. I’ll persevere all the same as well, in case anybody's interested in my opinion and well, just to shout about it, but most importantly in the hope someone will go “Well I’ve gotta have a look at that.”

Anywho, Ver delivers a special experience with their art. There's panel after panel of hypnotising beauty with full-page spreads that would look perfectly at home framed adorning any wall from private space to gallery. For me, page fives depiction of the skeleton shows Ver managing to make death itself a sublime experience to behold. Ver presents characters and a world of distinct style that I absolutely fell in love with. From heads to toes, from stitch to bone, from roaming fields to trampled ash. The colours, the style, the presentation is so thoroughly accomplished. Ver presents a style akin to a watercolor masterpiece with delicate pencil sketch lines. I know it’s an oxymoron but there is so much vibrancy in the darkness of the colour palette that adds richness to the art. The perfect compliment to the style to deliver emotion evoking art. The visuals really drive this comic with the narrative in terms of quantity. This sparingly used approach to dialogue works expertly at emphasizing the art experience and delivering a beautiful tragedy of a story that’s also full of hope. Sublime.

This story then is one dominated by art, but it’s certainly not superficial, the conservatively used dialogue is delicately measured to provide impossible to ignore emotional emphasis in all the right places. Ver presents a really entertaining plot centred around a mysterious coven. This tribe of women seem agents of the circulative nature of all things, the existence parameters, life death and rebirth. They are the keepers of a beast, an agent of this existence, to which the tribe assign a daughter as a herald. The story follows this pair as they follow a predestined path. The daughter will have to bear witness to the beast's nature, but will it be something she can accept? What is the nature of the beast, its origins and purpose? What cost will this journey have on this pair and the world they inhabit? There are bigger questions here also. Ones of hope, hopelessness, resilience and perseverance and their interconnectedness. The beautiful presentation of a story of destruction and rebirth with an emphasis on the importance of adversity is really special and expertly delivered. This comic is one of the paradoxes, in particular, that it’s a single issue contained story that reaches endlessly through time and presents some world building chock full of wondrous potential.

For fans of jaw-dropping art, mysterious tribes, beastly monsters, sweeping landscapes, fire and destruction and musings on life, death and rebirth look no further than Wolvendaughter. Another superb reason to be ecstatically excited to join Quindrie Press as they shine a light on these incredibly talented indie creators. Everyone involved in the art that is these comics and everyone at Quindrie Press must be proud of these accomplished endeavours and have announced themselves as publishers and creators, curators in fact of sublime entertaining comic artistry.

Review: 5/5