Stoneheart #5: Trying To Survive

The penultimate issue of the fantasy-based series, Stoneheart #5 by Emma Kubert (Inkblot, Radiant Pink), is the weaker issue of the series. It is still good in what it’s delivered so far: a fantasy story with the protagonist suffering from some memory loss who also happens to be one of the most powerful magical people in the land, filled with action and romance. And the issue isn’t bad, either. However, some elements in this story suffer and don’t stand as well as the other issues.

Cover Art

Kubert’s cover matches the style and tone of the interior pages of the issue. While there have been criticisms that the coloring style looks incomplete, the style is pretty consistent, works well, and fits the story’s theme. With the character trying to figure out who she is before her memory loss, the “incompleteness” of the coloring reflects that struggle very well.

The cover art depicts a point of view where the main character, Shayde, looks up at a person or creature much taller than her while she stands with her crafted hammer in hand, with a look of shock on her face. The magical lightning effects surrounding her and seemingly coming out of the hands of the creature on the cover foreshadows what is about to happen in this issue and who we may see as well.

Writing & Story

The story opens with a flashback of Shayde with her mentor on Mount Ember, where Shayde seems to be some magical creature that only she can see. Her mentor helps dispel the creature and tells her that she can help her with her powers, but she needs to learn how to control it first. Fast forward to the present, Shayde and Redwood are on their way to Redwood’s flat to retrieve a few things for a potion he is trying to make while getting prepared to help Eve with her plan on winning gold. As the story unfolds, Eve’s real intentions are revealed, and readers learn the relationship between Redwood and Brave Redbreaker…

Kubert’s writing overall is good in this issue. She incorporates a good structure and flows to the story that’s easy to read and follow and doesn’t confuse the reader in most parts. Each page has a clear direction and purpose. There were moments, however, when the story felt like it lept from one moment to another that felt rather abrupt. An example of this is when Shayde and Redwood are trying to avoid being detected by Brave Redbreaker and his acquaintances, then on the same page, it appears that the story lept forward 10 or 15 minutes later without any cue as to that happening other than the placard that says they’re in a different part of town.

Another example is when Shayde finally meets Killman Rage. There was no natural build-up to the first time the two meet but rather, Killman shows up out of nowhere during the killing match, which leaves that moment a little jarring for the readers. Other moments were left a bit underdeveloped, such as Redwood’s suggestive comment towards Shayde, which has been building up the entire series. But after he makes that comment and Shayde suddenly leaves, the tension evaporates for the rest of the story and is nonexistent.

Artwork

The artwork in this issue has been consistent with the previous issues. It has a particular style that is not what one may see in traditional comics but fits the style of the story with the character’s memory loss. Details are a little fuzzy, but the reader clearly knows what it is, and the coloring matches that. One aspect of the art that catches the reader a little off guard is the art of Eve. Eve’s character has some line details drawn on her skin as part of her character, but in the scenes where the panel is a long shot, the line art of Eve’s face and skin seemed to be accentuated a lot more than it should have been that made it more distracting than anything else.

One of the other issues that has also been consistent within the entire series is the lettering work. There are moments when the characters’ dialogue is nothing but words with a line coming out of the person’s direction instead of a speech bubble, but it is unclear why. The style is an interesting attempt to do something different with dialogue speech bubbles (or lack thereof here). Still, for the reader, when it comes out of nowhere, and it isn’t clear why that moment that’s happening for that character, it’s distracting at best. There is also the interior voice inside Shayde’s mind, where the speech bubble is just a flat rectangle with sharp edges. Although it’s clear that the text belongs to the internal voice, that seems to be the place that could have had some experimentation on doing something different with dialogue boxes. Still, instead, this seems to be a little flat and uninteresting.