Review: Beneath the Dark Crystal #7

I“ll preface this with my bias toward Henson associated anything. I love it. It feeds the fantasy monger in me that wants to see brilliant, beautiful worlds that I can never touch and this title feeds just that. It sates my palette completely. Adam Smith spins us a tale of darkness and fire that licks at those deeply rooted inner bits of my need for such, feeding my passion. Admittedly, there“s a little bit of nostalgia in the art by Alexandria Huntington that is punctuated by the colors that Laura Langston drips onto the pages. Somehow, the art itself transcends the pages to become something more. I can literally feel myself watching a movie in my mind.

Jim Campbell“s letters really need to be mentioned here as the lettering in this title are the real star of this arc. They“re utilized to their best capacity to capture, not only the beauty of the language itself but to lend magic to each and every word that the Gelflings and Firelings speak. If nothing else really strikes you from about this read, I hope, at least, you take away the extreme effort that had been placed in this. Letterers so often get lost in the credits of everything. We should remember how important and heartfelt the subtle little choices in the slightest tilt of a vowel can be. So here’s to you, Jim Campbell.

This issue, for me, revolves around balance. Precautionary little tales that teach us about the importance of such considering the events of everything inside these pages. It is only after our characters find balance within themselves and seek the same in their actions we might find resolve. Alternatively, if we cannot find this within us,Â we must seek out balance within our surroundings for the survival of posterity.Â Either way, without such, we are left looking for an equalizer among whatever chaos surrounds us,Â as well as urged to look past what might be presented to us as a truth, to find the meat and bones of everything. We’re hard pressed to push past pretenses for our own safety, because this entire world, as beautiful as it is, might chew you up and spit you out whole if you let it. It’s this very element of truth that pulls us back from the edge of safety.
If I had to rate this comic, I’d say I’d give it a 3.75 out of 5, if not just because all the tiny little elements of storytelling come together to make it something that, as a whole, is beautiful and dotted with tiny bits of magic that take you to a higher place.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Adam Smith (A) Alexandria Huntington (CA) David Petersen