After sampling their first four offerings and finding them to be okay but not exactly what I was looking for, I came back to take a look at Crossgen with Sojourn. And I was impressed, from the epic feel of the fantasy story to the stunning artwork by Greg Land. This trade paperback collects the beginning of the tale, and it's a good example of classic fantasy, maybe a little too familiar in approach but also somewhat comfortable and easy-to-read as a result of that familiarity. Marz builds up a truly evil and powerful villain, a great quest structure and a quartet of interesting protagonists, and Land and company flesh it out with some of the most gorgeous visuals to ever grace a fantasy comic. Sojourn is my first real foray into Crossgen's trade paperbacks, but it won't be my last.
I'm a hard sell when it comes to fantasy. I've found plenty that I like, but it's not a favorite genre for me, the way super-heroes or science-fiction or crime are. To sell me on fantasy, you either need to do something completely different from the norm or you need to really nail what I think fantasy does well, which is the epic scale. Marz really nails the latter here, starting off with a prequel not unlike the opening of last year's Lord of the Rings film, showing two massive armies at war and a pair of instrumental figures who symbolized the larger conflict. And Arwyn's journey, starting off as an ex-guardswoman and becoming the sole hope of a conquered land, is truly classic fantasy protagonist stuff.
While Arwyn's background and journey are the center of the story, however, the villain of the piece almost steals the show. Though I'm usually no fan of the Crossgen sigil making its way into their comics, I found the use of it here as a tool for his resurrection to be a clever way to work the concept into the book. It serves as an outside force, a substitute for the gods that are often behind the movements of the world in classic fantasy, and it gives Mordath an otherworldly aspect to go with the powerful evil that he had in his human life. Mordath seems truly evil and unstoppable, and he has a visual that is chilling and powerful as well.
Of course, I knew that I'd enjoy the visuals on the book. I've been a fan of Land's work since he started on Birds of Prey and Nightwing, and he's doing career best artwork on Sojourn, aided by Geraci's inks and absolutely stunning coloring from Caesar Rodriguez. I'll say this much for Crossgen in general, they have some of the best art production in the business, and Sojourn is one of the best examples of that. Land serves up equal time beautiful people (Gareth is the beefcake to Arwyn's cheesecake), grotesque villains in Mordath and his trolls and unbelievably beautiful settings. The detailed and lush backgrounds are truly breathtaking, and the action choreography equally so.
Marz balances a very personal and human story, how Arwyn deals with the loss of everything she had, with an epic quest and an action-oriented style. Each issue features some kind of action sequence, whether it's Arwyn and Gareth on the run in the castle, battling it out in the ruins or making a daring "Butch and Sundance" style leap into the water below. I'm also intrigued by the finite nature of the story that is implied by the quest structure, which draws me in more than the premise of an ongoing series that will last for years and years and years. I'm not foolish enough to believe that Crossgen will end this title anytime soon, but I hope that it will follow the lead of series like Preacher and Transmetropolitan and know when to conclude its story, and the setup for the tale seems to lend hope to that idea.
