The King’s Warrior. Huahua Zhu. Bulgilhan Press. 2024. 65pp. $15.00.
From the cover, all the way through, I am completely swept into the exquisite world that Huahua Zhu has created in her new comic. I love fantasy when it works for me and this does. Recently, I was browsing through a bunch of zines at a certain shop and I was struck by the art on the cover, the delicate and ethereal lines holding up a bold eccentricity.
When a comic sparks my curiosity, that’s a very good sign. The best fantasy will do that: somehow turn the genre on its head, give you something refreshingly new and will its own reality. By simply jumping into the story, in just the right understated manner, Zhu has achieved this. One wonders what led up to this moment while, at the same time, ready to follow along.
The two leading characters are rather enigmatic: a brother and sister with elfin ears. All we know, at first, is that this is a world of monsters, especially dragons. Zhu’s approach is to not give too much away. The first page is a trio of close-up panels depicting a slaughter of dragons. This is followed by a couple of pages of combat. And then a page featuring a castle and an inset close-up panel that only shows part of a craggy face. A textbox below dares someone to come and kill him. Finally, the next page has our leads, Mara and Echo: an animated page of various panels that gently introduces the siblings with light hints of yellow and blue watercolor.
An ambiguous and fanciful tempo is kept up all the way to the end of this book. The connections between characters are not altogether clear hinting at a larger backstory. There is no apparent reason why the actions of one character should determine the fate of another but that seems to be the point. Mara and Echo have both ended up being kidnapped by a mysterious queen who won’t set them free until a warrior has completed his task of assassinating a wizard. Once this chain of events has been set into motion, more things are triggered and there’s no turning back.
Zhu has a wonderful way with drawing horses, dragons, gnomes, elves, wizards, all the stuff of fantasy, including a magical golden coin. The trick is to not bring out the big swords too often or all at once. Good fantasy, or any good story, is made up of a number of well-timed moments, constantly moving forward, toward something greater than its parts. This Zhu does well. I buy it in every quiet scene she’s conjured up with the mighty warrior and Growl, his chimera sidekick. Yes, Zhu manages a bit of humor. This is an ideal work of comics fantasy, both spooky and enchanting.
Beautiful art work!
Yeah, something special!