Sunder #1: From Humble Beginnings

There is something so effortlessly charming about a young goat living in a monastery and yearning for adventure. Sunder’s Zeek is a relatively simple character at first glance. He has his daily routine of picking up bread at the local bakery, transcribing books for the monastery, and organizing the library.

What makes Zeek interesting is his penchant for ill-timed heroism despite his small stature and otherwise humble, cozy lifestyle. After seeing an anthropomorphic bear miner in danger of falling, he rushes in to save him like a hero would. However, his valiant efforts only end up making things worse and resulting in Zeek’s confinement to the monastery as punishment. The dialogue subtly reveals each of the relationships between the characters as well as more details about them, avoiding the need for long exposition, such as when Brother Biorr casually remarks that this isn’t the first time Zeek has been confined to the monastery.

The “call to adventure,” as it were, eventually comes for Zeek. When a mysterious book containing magical lights appears in the library, which happens to be the same book featured in the issue’s opening battle, Zeek’s life begins to change in ways we will have to wait and see in future issues.

Sunder’s first issue is 48 pages of delectable artwork dripping with dark fantasy ambiance. The pages have a grainy texture, like reading off a scroll that’s been painted by hand. Pierre Alexandre Comtois has a flawless command of panel structure. Some of Sunder #1‘s pages are able to feature as many as 7 or 10 individual panels without slowing the pace to a halt or becoming visually scattered. The art employs thin frames with only narrow spaces between them to accomplish this.

Mark Englert’s colors add a cool, almost watercolor style of blending to the art. The backgrounds and the lighting wash over the characters and bring them to a higher level of the fantastical. Zeek casts a shadow where he walks, and the lower portions of larger set pieces are darkly shaded with less lighting. Such details are often overlooked in comics and are extraordinarily immersive when used effectively, like they are in Sunder #1.