Iverrian: Curse of the Crown #5 is a comic written and illustrated by Luka Brico. Many different races of Korathians must work together to repel the invading Roqashi. This is a high fantasy drama comic with brutal battles, tragic desperation, and a large, extremely varied cast. Because of the constantly shifting perspectives I’ll describe some of the different races and some of the notable characters within them. First you have the Ferashari who are mushroom-like fae beings who can communicate with plants and spread a gas. Naila is the most prominent one. The Lycans function like werewolves and they are lead by the Casadius, the former Queen. The Roqashi are red-skinned and horned with canine-like legs. This story begins with a group of insectoid beings attempting to make a stand against Shanthra in front of a Sunless shrine. Simply laying eyes on Shanthra causes this group of friends to violently turn on each other until only one remains. This lone warrior poetically comments on what happens next as he ponders the futility of this failed final stand. This takes place in a world full of many different beings and magic with deep lore that isn’t always explained. The violence here is very bloody and gruesome with body parts all over the place. This is has an overall speedier pace due to the amount of action and wordless pages. This has a high fantasy big battle tone similar to something like Lord of the Rings. There many violently intense moments with dramatic under and overtones. The dialogue is decently conversational with a proper English talking style that can get poetic. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is a thrilling and violent issue that shows the desperation, resolve, and ruthlessness of the combatants on both sides of this conflict as the high stakes force them to step up.
The art here is drawn in at least a couple different styles generally either a 80’s/90’s era roughness or a watercolor-like soft smoothness. The color palette is predominantly shades of purple and red with a tanning-grey as well. This takes place entirely outdoors starting in a forest space manmade structures. The battlefield where most of this story happens is a wide open rocky space with some trees and winding mountains. Backgrounds tend to be cloudy and smoky so seeing the actual surroundings is rare. The expression level here is around average as the looks are strong but the range is limited. Aggressive emotions like anger and rage are the most common here though we will see fear, shock, and sadness. Faces have a level of detail that hovers around average sometimes above or below and most of the different expressions are clear. Most of the bodies here have real-life creature characteristics from insects to animals. Speaking of animals, the ones here are very similar to dinosaurs and also serve as mounts. Weapons used here include spears, swords of varying design, clubs, and physicality which usually means claws. The violence here is very brutal and bloody with gruesome attacks that lead to body parts flying but there shockingly isn’t much heavy gore(by heavy gore I mean insides being shown). This is more or less one long action scene with rare moments of calm and though most of the fighting flows well it can occasionally be hard to decipher what is going on due to the level of detail on the page. Every woman here has large breasts and most have a curvy build. There is little clothing worn by most characters regardless of gender.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like high fantasy drama stories centered on a large battle with a varied cast and that features brutal violence, palpable desperation, and high stakes then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, light gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Your kindness will never be returned.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/goparadox/iverrian-curse-of-the-crown-chapters-1-5/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 79
Violent Pages: 31, for 39% 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 – 4
“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 – 4
“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.”
Gore Level – 5 in one scene, 4 overall
“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 – 4
“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.”
