Moonstone #2 is a comic written by Paul Veenstra with art by John Li & Mykola Myky and letters by JessHavok. Myro returns home and finds the kingdom in disarray with danger looming. This is a fantasy story with a lot of moving parts and mystery with characters that have pertinent pasts. The main man for this story is Myro, a prince of a crumbling kingdom. With him is Sage, a mysterious blind woman who is in possession of a Moonstone. In this issue we are introduced to his parents and brother, and their reunion isn’t as happy as you might expect. The story picks up where the last left off with Myro and Sage heading to the castle. On the way there they see what has transpired while Myro was away. There is a looming sense of danger from an unknown source. There are a few moments that will confuse you due to lack of explanation. The action here is bloody but without gore. The pacing is steady but does speed up on occasion as there are a number of wordless pages. The tone is melodramatically serious. There are some intense moments both physically and emotionally. The dialogue is the older English you’d hear on British period pieces. There aren’t any wordy pages here. This is an issue that dives headlong into the story but leaves you with more than a few unanswered questions.

            The art here uses a significant amount of shading and contrasting tones while being drawn in a style that will bring to mind some much older comics. The coloring is mostly browns and dull colors which reflect the present roughness of the kingdom. The scenery is mostly the castle exterior against both the sun and the night sky. The backgrounds are the castle interiors and they are usually present in the close-ups. The location will go to just about every major area of a castle including the courtyard and the throne room. The expression level here slightly above-average but the outright main look is sadness. The range mainly goes from anger to sadness with a few looks of fear thrown in. The faces are drawn with some light-dark contrast that doesn’t fade in, which makes the somberness seem more intense. The action scenes are overall not too hard to follow but there will be some moments that will have you confused.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is specifically up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like fantasy tales where characters have haunting pasts that are affecting the present starring a man and blind woman with some family drama then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I too know the feeling of eternal darkness.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulveenstra/moonstone-comic-2/description

 

***** I received this review copy for free. *****

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 37

Violent Pages: 4, for 11% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 3% 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 – 3

“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 – 2

“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 – 2

“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.”