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ARIA: THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT #1-2
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Image Comics
Writer: Brian Holguin
Artist: Lan Medina
Colors: Steve Oliff & Andy Troy
Letters: Dreamer Design
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
The name Lan Medina is the name that drew me to this project, thanks to his work on Fables. As it turns out, Aria has a premise not unlike that of Fables, although it has a very different sensibility and take on the premise. Still, it's ironic that I've come to Aria, which has been around longer, thanks to my enjoyment of Fables, and I'm glad that I did. The story here is interesting enough, with some intriguing mystery and a cast of unusual characters, but the artwork is phenomenal. Lan Medina and Steve Oliff give the book a lush, painted look that reminds me of the first time I saw Alex Ross's work, mixing photo-realism and fantasy in perfect measure.
There are a lot of interesting things to be said with the mixture of modern day and fantasy, but The Uses of Enchantment seems to be focused largely on the fantasy elements. The story of Queen Joyous and Kildare ties back to the modern world, but the story rests in the fantasy realm that Oberon has created. There are several mysteries here, some obvious with a little thought (the nature of the monster and the queen) and some not so obvious (the nature of Oberon). I'm curious as to what's going to happen now that Holguin has brought these characters together, especially since no one involved, not Kildare, Oberon, Joyous, Ember or even the beast seems to be unintelligent or lacking in guile.
 Though the story is one of mystery and potential danger, though, the tone is one of fantasy and magic. Holguin doesn't fail in presenting Kildare's newest adventure as potentially dangerous, but he also doesn't miss out on the adventure part of it. Plenty of pageantry, royal tradition and charming new friends are to be found in Oberon's kingdom, and so the story is fun as well as having a bit of an edge to it.
Much of this sense of magic comes from the artwork, which is really the selling point of the book as far as I'm concerned. Lan Medina did beautiful, detailed work on Fables, but The Uses of Enchantment just blows that away. Better paper and a different coloring technique make the work almost indistinguishable from painting. There are terrific designs for the hedgehog, Hunter and Ember, not to mention the fashions of the characters and the locales of both New York and Oberon's kingdom, and the storytelling is perfect. The work really shines, though, on the occasional splash pages and double-page splashes. The revelation of Hunter and his wolves in issue one and the double-page splash that opens issue two are particularly breathtaking.
I'll be honest, given the gorgeous quality of the artwork, The Uses of Enchantment could have been an incomprehensible mess and I'd probably still be impressed by what I'd seen. Fortunately, the evocative artwork is accompanied by a story that is just as enchanting. Fans of Fables should not miss this installment of Aria... and vice versa, actually.
One of these comic books was not among this week's new releases.
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