Ennead: The Rule of Nine, Book 7 – An Odd Sense of Solidarity is a comic created and written by J. L. Johnson with art by Luke Horsman. War is on the horizon but the lines being drawn are a bit blurred. This issue is full of palace intrigue and action, with alliances being formed and animosity being put to the side for the greater good. There is an overabundance of characters with plot relevance but the singular main character is a man named Inahtuu, a soldier with bad luck who jumps from one unpleasant situation to another. There is a royal family that finds itself at center of all the potential and current drama, the head of which is King Ulius. The plot is reaching a boiling point with armaments being gathered and loyalties being solidified. This is s comic series you can’t just dive into; you need to have been here the whole time. The dialogue is mostly understandable but it encroaches into the territory of Old English often. There are also many wordy pages. At times it can feel like a book with pictures rather than a comic. There aren’t as many threads here as Game of Thrones but you will need to pay attention. In this series with notable side stories this issue moves the narrative forward but you’d better hold because you might get left behind.

            This is a black-and-white comic so expect to notice the greater attention given to smaller details. The main locations are either within a castle or in a wooded area. The background tends to fade out during close ups or intense scenes. The characters here are a bit below-average when it comes to expressing emotions. You ever make food that you no longer want to eat but you like being alive so you still eat it? You know that face you make when that happens? That’s the main expression of the characters of this comic. There isn’t really any face sameness but they all look a bit stiff. You will get confused as to which character is talking every now and then. The more action-heavy scenes have good weight to them but you might get lost going from panel-to-panel; sometimes the art isn’t easy to decipher on first look. The theme for the outfits in this issue is mostly medieval with capes; expect to see plenty of chainmail and floor-length robes and dresses.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like thick plots with large casts of characters and medieval style combat with mystical elements and palace intrigue lightly similar to Game of Thrones this is for you.

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

PG-13. This gets pretty violent.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“An offer of peace at the end of a blade is no offer of peace at all.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enneadcomic/theruleof9/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 37

Violent Pages: 10, for 27% 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 – 2

“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 – 1

“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.”