Making its way from the Internet to the print, “Bird Boy: The Sword of Mali Mani” absolutely sings on the page. A triumph of visual design, Anne Szabla’s all-ages adventure spins a fantastic tale with an old school animation spirit. The book is marvelous to look at, with an overall aesthetic helping to cover some of its more conventional aspects.
Written and Illustrated by Anne Szabla
Bird Boy follows the story of Bali, a ten-year-old boy desperate to prove his worth to his northern tribe despite his small stature. Banned from the ceremony that would make him an adult in the eyes of his people, he takes matters into his own hands. To prove that he is capable of taking care of himself, he sets out into the forbidden forest and stumbles upon a legendary weapon. Bali fights his way across a dangerous land of gods, men, and beasts to keep the sword of Mali Mani, the savior of the sun, from the hands of the terrifying Rooks.
There’s a lot in “Bird Boy: The Sword of Mali Mani” that might seem familiar. Anne Szabla mines the genre for all these elements and basically throws all the ones she likes on the page. We’re given a high fantasy world, maybe not yet filled with magic, although she offers plenty of legends and monsters. The story centers on this young boy, Bali, on the eve of some coming-of-age ceremony, who’s deemed too small and clumsy to withstand the ritual. Myths permeate the atmosphere of this world, tales of a hero from a long time ago who battled this great beast after it ate up all the light; the hero overpowered it, but was lost with the thing.
So, sure, the plot may have a certain conventionality to it, but Szabala uses this structure to help her build up the rest of the world. It all seems more like a vessel for her intricate designs, stunning backgrounds, and overall world-building, but what a fascinating place to get immersed in.
Szabla not only weaves the design together to create this visual treat, but also strives to make sure everything fits the logic and reality of this world. There’s the legends segments, approached like they’re tapestries. There’s these incredibly realized monsters and beasts, heavy and impending as they stomp across the environment. There’s the wonderful backgrounds and sets that feel ancient and lived in, where everything looks both cool and practical. Check out the village, for instance, with its crescent huts to ward off the snow. Last but not least, there’s the outfits and costumes, these giant bird helmets the hunters don when they set out. They’re all individually decorated and hint at a larger culture and hertiage we’re not seeing (or have yet to see, this is a number one after all). We might not know what’s going on at the start of the story, but we can still understand these people. We can guess where they’re coming from.
The book is also 80 pages long, and Szabla uses that longer running time to deliver some sustained and intense action sequences. The bear attack at the end of act one lasts about ten pages along, and Szabla allows the scene to breathe, so it’s eventual defeat feels hard-fought and well-earned, and the contents inside its body feel all the more disappointing (but also intriguing). She takes her time with the scene in the temple, and those extra beats and moments let the mysteries develop and the questions grow richer. I first read this book when it was published online, and some of these scenes could get frustrating when we were only given a couple pages a week. Having it all collected together now, however, I got a strong sense of the tone and mood and intensity Szabla was going for. She reveals information and poses questions with confidence. She builds and propels the story along with aplomb, and you get the sense she’s in control of her environment. The longer page count also allows her to go for larger panels and framing compositions. There’s a splash page where the titular sword of Mali Mani bursts out in an explosion of light, and it’s stunning.
Continued belowOf course, not much gets resolved by the end of this volume. It’s debatable whether or not the plot even gets put into motion by the end of this volume. I can see all the elements on the page, but I don’t think they’ve started to quite come together yet, and it feels like Szabla has so much more to build up and explore in her weird little world. Her characters are interesting and likable, but we’re still left only at the beginning of their arcs and with hardly anything more than the broad strokes to define them. Their environments may help build their culture, but their characterization is still emerging.
“Bird Boy: The Sword of Mali Mani” is a visual accomplishment. Szabla offers up more than several pages that are frankly breathtaking. Her control of the action and intrigue is completely on point, and I had a difficult time pulling myself out of the narrative to go get a drink of water or anything. Yet while the storytelling is so assured and confident, the story itself runs kind of conventional. The characters are still broad and when there are more than three on the page, they’re indistinguishable. Most of this comes from being an opening chapter, however. Szabla clearly has a wider vision for this world and the fate of our characters, and it’s one I want to see unravel.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – I wouldn’t go so far to say there’s more style than substance, but it definitely feels like the engines are starting to rev.
