The Fabled Offering is a comic written by Nandor Fox Shaffer with art by Marco Robin. A princess goes on a journey to make a request of the Ancient Cizin. This is a high fantasy comic with heavy drama and violence that features a cast of mostly women. The leading lady here is the Grand Princess Aurelia, she is a skilled combatant for the Kingdom of Talendius and conquers in their name. She spends the majority of this story pregnant and traveling and comes across many people that are different combinations of powerful, evil, and strange. The story begins with Aurelia battling and getting victory over Makmul before flashing forward to her being very pregnant. It then flashes back to after the battle where she is given the honor of receiving the Sword of Chel. There are numerous flashbacks and forwards. The violence here does get bloody and gory with some dismemberment. Also a TW for sexual assault, though it happens off-screen. The pacing here is towards the slower end as the plot has the potential to confuse and there can be a lot to take in. The tone is like that of a fantasy work from the 1970’s/80’s with a bit of darkness. There are multiple intense moments due to violence, danger, and unease. The dialogue is conversational with some poetic narration and lots of big words. The characters speak with an upper class talking style and there are a lot of created words. There are many thick text bubbles and blocks but only one word-heavy page. This is a comic that follows a woman, who has done much for others, on a tough and painful journey to do something for herself.

            The art here is very detailed and strongly reminiscent of 1970’s comics with strong shading. The color range here is very wide with a soft and ethereal theme. The scenery mainly consists of mountains and other rocky areas with little greenery seen. The sky changes to a number of different colors. Though places like caves and palaces are visited the majority of this story takes place outdoors. The backgrounds sometimes show the surroundings like nature and the sky but they can also just be a gradient color. The expression level here is around average as the characters like to sport stoic looks. The range goes from anger and rage to depression and sadness with some fear, terror, and irritation. The faces here have a very high amount of detail and show the different looks clearly. The mystical effects are noticeable but don’t stand out too much. The violence usually involves a blade and features blood and limb-separating gore. The action scenes rarely go longer than a page and there are multiple spread throughout.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like high fantasy stories with drama and supernatural elements that star a woman on a mission and that features violence with a lot of introspection then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Physical and sexual violence, gore, blood.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“And you are prepared for the cost, young one?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/manchild2/the-fabled-offering-1/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-fabled-offering-a-sci-fi-fantasy-one-shot/x/26236710#/

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 46

Violent Pages: 8, for 17% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 5

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”