Quest #5: Thy Demon

Anya’s husband is still missing. Mysterious creatures stand between her and his unknown location. And the most dangerous demon yet has found Anya’s forces. Quest #5 raises the stakes and in the process does make minor improvements on the previous issues.

The demon Klat confronts Princess Anya at the start of Quest #5. Klat calls forth zombie-like creatures who crawl toward Anya’s forces while also using a powerful scepter to kill them one by one. Eventually Klat is overwhelmed, struck down by arrows and swords. As he lay dying, the issue flashes back to the distant past and reveals how Klat, as a young man, was inhabited by the demon organ that transformed him. Flashing back to the present, Anya is possessed by that same demon organ when Klat dies. As Anya lay unconscious she thinks back on a memory of her and Davyan together. The longer she remains inhabited by the demon organ, the greater the chance that she will become a demon like Klat.

Quest #5 leans into standard action more than any previous issue. The fight with Klat is straightforward and offers the greatest level of urgency and excitement in the series to date. Wood employs some limited creature horror elements in the Klat fight, but her choice to focus on one primary enemy ultimately plays more into Luna’s are style for the series.

Dialogue continues to be a problem in Quest #5. Klat’s dialogue is littered with “thee,” “thou,” and “thy.” All three words are likewise prominent in the flashback to Klat’s youth. The suggestion seems to be that this is the native speech found almost 500 years ago, and Wood is using it to separate Klat from the modern day characters. But the result is extremely clunky dialogue. Every single word feels forced, as though Wood merely did a search and replace to insert them. The lines do not flow well, and as fight dialogue they distract from the sequence’s urgency.

Wood does find success in the dialogue between younger Anya and Devyan. Quest’s dialogue has repeatedly been stilted, both during action sequences and otherwise. The sequence with Anya and Devyan as they discuss whether they have real feelings for each other or are marrying merely because of a betrothal feels more genuine. Wood finds emotion here that she doesn’t anywhere else in the issue. The Klat flashback and late-issue determination to rescue Devyan utterly lacks the emotion in the heartfelt exchange between younger Anya and Devyan. This one page scene is easily the issue’s emotional core.

Luna’s art is more successful with sequential storytelling in Quest #5 than it has been at any point in this series. Luna varies the angles and points of view on his breakdowns during the fight with Klat. The result is a greater sense of depth in each panel and a stronger suggestion of movement between panels. He also improves on character eyelines, both toward each other and common points of interest.

Like Wood, Luna captures more feeling and emotion in the scene between young Anya and Devyan. Subtle lines add to the characters’ expressions and their eyelines give the impression of real investment into each other. Luna’s color choices remain the best part of the series’ visuals. Settings and backgrounds are vibrant and make every panel more alive.