More summaries of my goodies!
I managed to grab the the first issue of NYX in the Overworld by Hari Conner at ECAF this year. It was hard to choose from all the lovely things for sale on her table (Hari is a talented illustrator and has a lot of really cool bags and accessories I’d love to own) but ultimately since I was at a comic festival I decided I wanted to take a chance on a new comic series!
I chose the first issue of NYX (there are 5 issues plus a spin off novel currently available) as I’m not always into this type of comic but I really liked the style of illustration on the cover and because I figured if I loved it there are more issues to buy so I wouldn’t be left hanging!
I’m very glad that I gave NYX a chance, the story is funny and engrossing, Conner manages to use the premise of ‘what if the rules of RPGs were applied to life’ in a way that isn’t intrusive to the story and actually adds depth to the characters journey.
The protagonist is a sweet character, they’re determined and sometimes a little naive (which makes it even better when they succeed). As an aside Conner explained to me that she purposely didn’t want the characters to have male or female pronouns which I quite liked and apparently it’s explained more in future issues.
LGBT characters are also discussed in the story without drawing attention to their orientation which is really cool to read.
A quality I quite like as a comic reader and artist is when the artwork improves throughout the comic. NYX starts off good and ends up looking great, you can see experimentation throughout the first issue which is cool and because each chapter is divided by the level of the character it can be read that the artist’s work is also levelling up!
As an aside this is my favourite joke so far!
I say so far because I will definitely be continuing with this series and watching it grow. The only real thing I’d ask for is the comic to get a colour print one day but I understand that this would bump up costs so it’s definitely a deal breaker. For now I can read the comic for free in colour here (though I do prefer a print copy). You can see more of Conner’s awesome work here go go go!
The Art of Katie Whittle 