Emora

Book 1: The Stranger and the Statue

Art and story by Michael Cribbs

Successfully funded on Kickstarter. Look it up HERE to inquire with the creator to get a copy for yourself.

Emora is a fantasy driven story much like a lot of children's or young adult yarns set in far off places. There's a few well-known tropes at work here: The Village, The King, a seldom seen but mentioned threat called The Raiders, a girl (Emora) and her boy companion (Jax), finally there's Emora's doting mother Palithea. Everyone is drawn more or less caucasian. The ethnicity of the cast is left fairly neutral. Oh yes, there's also The Stranger as mentioned in the title.

The story begins with a strange setting. Emora's left alone. The lighting is dark yet glowing from something. Emora discovers a monster or two and wakes up screeching. It turns out she was being used for her supernatural vision powers, standing on an altar of some kind, for the benefit of the village. This proves too much for her and Palithea takes her away, admonishing the King Stephanos for trying this in the first place.

Then Emora and her friend Jax slip out of the village to a short quick adventure involving a secluded cave behind a waterfall.

I have to say the look and craft Michael Cribbs sunk into this project is truly amazing. In his back page bio he mentions his background as an art director. It shows plainly in this book's design and look. One gets a sense of completeness and well-thought harmony with color, texture and design. Admittedly, Emora's story as such is fairly pedestrian; something we've seen dozens of times in other creative works. The look and feel of this book props itself up in a large part. It's the art aspect of the story you remember more than the writing.

On the downside Emora Part 1 lacks a dramatic heft. You won't see much in the way of danger or tragedy befalling anyone -yet. I'm curious to see what Part 2 will hold in store for me. Its title "Raiders at the Gate" hints at some real conflict to come.

Next Tuesday:

The Turner Family Terrors

Ew gross! Another horror story!

This time by Robert Krisch!