White Ash Season Two, White Ash Deluxe Edition

Written by Charlie Stickney
Art and Letters Conor Hughes
Color Fin Cramb

Buy them HERE.

Really, I mean really good art!

I'm starting to warm up to Charlie Stickney's story line. In a previous review I had mentioned that -in a back handed compliment- Mr. Stickney's story was solid enough to do without the supernatural aspect. To recap, he had this story of a young man leaving town to go off to college. His home town, White Ash, is a sooty dirty working-class Pennsylvania hamlet he'd be better off leaving behind. But an accident at the local mine injured his father, so he had to stay to see him in the hospital. All the good, but then he finds out he's actually part dwarf (hence the mines). He's got a love interest, a rich girl who turns out to be an elf. I thought then perhaps this story had too much stuff steeped in the supernatural. After all, that's my prejudice if you don't know that already.

White Ash continues with a storyline interweaving several characters. At its heart is two major events: Our Hero Aleck being crowned King of the Dwarves (an honor that is bestowed not for several decades as they live a long time). "The Brood" a hungry animalistic shape shifting devourers of people attacking innocents in the woods, getting closer to the Dwarf Kingdom, trying to conquer it. Finally, there's a flash back tale going to Pittsburg in the late 1950s as an old war buddy to the Dwarf leader seeks to avenge his death. Tying this all together is a magical sword lost in the river. The sword is recovered by the elf daughter in the present day as these two comics conclude (for now).

The artwork is, again, out of this world. Conor Hughes' expressions and body language of his characters really do convey a kind of elasticity and ease of mobility. Nearly everyone and everything looks acrobatic. His anatomy is without flaw. The colors of Fin Cramb also suit the atmospheric sense, whether it's wintery and cold or a dark wood paneled room.

Now, if I have to be negative...

The only nit I might have -and this is from a non fan of White Ash, just a causal browser of- is that the story seems a bit too thick. There's an incredible amount of set up and innuendo with every twist and turn. It was a tad bit hard for me to get a grasp of this story's progress. I didn't know if the situation was dire, calm, an emergency or just, well, whatever the author wanted it to be. Charles Stickney parcels out his information with such an even tempo that it's hard to get a sense of danger. Violent things do happen, true, but there's little in the way of pacing or story to get a sense of this. The 'even-ness' does fall away happily in the last story with the flashback. The man investigating his war buddy's disappearance does have a pulse beating within it. That's good news, I know Charlie Stickney's got the writing chops when he's not letting his characters idle away.

Next Tuesday: A special announcement for the Kickstarter.

Mayfield Eight's final kickstarter has been going gangbusters. If it funds by the end of the year... there's going to be a deal. With Calendars! Stay Tuned!