ICYMI: Dreamy Days and Magical Night Are Abound in Tales of Syzpense #1

Anthology comics have been slowly picking up steam once again within the Direct Market, but it’s still a little too early to tell whether or not the format will stick once again with mainstream readers. However, this hasn’t stopped innovators within the mainstream market from trying something new by repurposing formats ideas of old and applying them to stories deeply entrenched in modern sensibilities. As such, Tales of Syzpense #1 is a highly creative experiment from the folks over at Syzygy Publishing, featuring work that’s thrilling at its best, and visually impressive at its worst.

The first story, Les Mort 13, is the one that will most likely turn people off from this anthology. Written and illustrated by T.P. Louise and Ashley Wood, it’s a tale that even after multiple reads, is still difficult to decipher. The story is hyper impressionistic, its story pouring through more in an emotional way than a tangible one due to an off-kilter art style that’s absolutely to die for. While the story of Les Mort 13 may be hyper-confusing and unintelligible, a lot of what makes it work is how that confusion is solved in an almost meta-physical way when studying the art. Yes, it’s a pretentious evaluation of the art at hand, but it’s the only way to succulently sum up the value of this story.

The colors in this story pop with no regard for ‘standards’. It’s a truly visual tale, waiting to unfurl it’s themes and ideas to reader once the reader themselves is ready to abandoned the logic of traditional comic book art. We don’t often see this kind of visual storytelling in the mainstream market, but seeing it here and attached to a science fiction story about robots in society was a surprise to say to least.

The second story, Dreamweaver, was penned by Chris Ryan alongside art from Nelson Daniel that is much more traditional, and as such will likely you in more if you’re reader with sensibilities more locked into the ‘big two’. It follows the aging pulp hero Cutler Carlton, a.k.a, The Dreamweave, as he investigates a magic disturbance steeped in the dark arts aboard the now defunct U.S.S. Midway. The source?

This story works for a couple of reasons, most of them related to how well Chris’ writing blends in along with Nelson’s pencilling. The two are in total sync, which helps to sell the retro tone and aesthetic as anything more than a pastiche. There’s a moment in the story where the safety of retro pulp comics shatter. Action in old school pulp mags are often weightless and generic, but there’s a sequence in this story where the threat of violence becomes tangible, and even a tad excessive.

The story itself is brilliantly paced, the team making the most out of their twelve pages by succinctly chopping their plot up into a well-defined plotting structure that leaves nothing on the cutting room floor. It may be only 12 pages of physical story, but it reads as though it’s a full size comic.

That’s not to say that the story drags, quite the opposite. You feel as though you’re getting a full comics’ worth of story in half the pages, which is in no small thanks to the witchcraft that went into this perfect pacing. Within that pacing, the book gets you endeared to Dreamweaver pretty quickly, sucking you into both his internal conflict in relation to his aging, as was as the external battle against a couple of Dark Magicians looking to preform a summoning. The story has a surprising amount of flavor as well, utilizing well-written bits of verbal comedy to add a little more character to the writing on display.