“Squire”

The fantasy genre has been having a bit of a renaissance lately thanks to a slate of creators telling stories rooted in cultures and times other than Christian Medieval Europe. Out of this new crop in the comics sphere comes “Squire,” a tale of alienation, rebellion, empire and the consequences of the project that is war. If you want a straightforward recommendation, here it is: read this book. If you want more, and to know where it falls short, join me below.

Cover by Sara Alfageeh

Written by Nadia Shammas
Illustrated, Colored, and Lettered by Sara Alfageeh
Color Assistance by Lynette Wong
Flatted by Mara Jayne Carpenter
Squire is a young adult graphic novel set in an alternate history Middle East/North Africa.

This YA comic follows 14-year-old Aiza, who trains to become a knight for a war-torn empire while hiding her true background as a girl from conquered lands.

Born a second-class citizen, Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It’s the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the Ornu people, her only path to full citizenship.

​Now, ravaged by famine, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again. This means Aiza can finally enlist to the competitive Squire training program.

​The camp is nothing like she imagined. Hiding her Ornu status in order to blend in, Aiza must navigate friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the merciless General Hende. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the “greater good” Bayt-Sajji’s military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in more danger than she ever imagined.

If you’re going into “Squire” looking to be surprised by its trajectory, don’t be. It’s a very straightforward story with twists that can be seen from the very beginning. In essence, it is the archetype of a historical fantasy story and this is to its benefit. See, “Squire” never tries to hide those truths the twists reveal from the audience, only its characters, thereby creating an internal tension that readers can appreciate as they have been let into it. Moreover, by relying on a story that is familiar to both genre-soaked and genre-averse readers, Alfageeh & Shammas can instead focus on developing these characters and the themes within, which they do with aplomb.

Chapters 2-4 illustrate this the best, as they’re the introductory chapters of our three main supporting characters: Husni, Sahar, and Basem. In each we are first given the broad strokes of what archetype the characters fit from their physicality – specifically the way Alfageeh poses them and has them move through space, like how Husni is constantly fussing or Basem walks with firm determination – to the way they speak to each other. Heuristics are pulled and the base of the characters are built. Then, in just a few panels, we are treated to the assembly of a whole person.

The fussy rich boy is kinder than he appears, merely afraid and uncertain. The rough and tumble rival is no rival but a sleep-deprived girl who needs this for her family back home. And the hardass former-best friend of the fussy rich boy is under pressure to do the impossible and has had that hardassery forced upon him. Then in chapter 5, the fine details are applied via their letters home. Their personalities shine through in what they write, what they omit, how they write, and how they look writing. It’s a perfect example, too, of Alfageeh & Shammas being truly in sync. That in-syncness, though, extends to the weaker moments as well.

Much as I focused on the supporting characters above, “Squire” is Aiza’s story. As such, she gets the most page space allotted to her, which as the comic goes on means there’s less and less space for the others, which hurts the last third of the comic. After having a fairly functioning ensemble story for much of “Squire,” it centers nearly exclusively on Aiza once we hit chapter 10 when Aiza’s Ornu heritage is revealed and she’s promoted as part of the general’s plan to generate resentment against her and prevent Aiza from becoming a lionizing force against her.

By shifting to Aiza – and to a lesser extent Basem – instead of spending substantial time with Husni and Sahar post-revelation, we only get a surface understanding of their emotions and the reasons behind their choices during the final act. It’s serviceable but a glaring flaw for a comic that’s otherwise been so good at creating depth. It’d be like a painting that looks fine at a distance but upon closer inspection is only 95% complete, with the other 5% a slightly polished draft.

This is true of the art as well, but in reverse. Alfageeh’s early linework has a slightly unfinished quality to it, more stiff in posing and with odd proportions, but just as free flowing and expressive as the rest. The coloring feels flatter and darker too, like the gradient between shadow & light wasn’t gentle enough. Thankfully though, as I said, it’s really only at the start and even by chapter 3 has substantially improved. What remained consistently excellent, at the start and the end, is the lettering.

I adore Alfageeh’s lettering. I could nit-pick some bubbles’ spacing or crowding but it never materially affects the work nor is it noticeable in the same way as above so I won’t. Her lettering really feels like an extension of the characters but with a universality that comes from not using colors or differing fonts, at least for speech. Thematically, I love this, even though I readily admit colored balloons and differing fonts are an outlier rather than the norm.

The long, winding tails add a lyrical quality to Shammas’ dialog while the slight deformations of the balloons and varying font size convey subtle intensities that would otherwise go unheard. It’s lively and looks like it comes from the world of “Squire” rather than being imposed upon it.

My only other gripe with “Squire” is that it ends feeling like, for lack of a better term, the tutorial mission: lots of set-up and now the game can truly begin. That said, I’m not unsatisfied with the story we got – far from it. “Squire” is a complete tale in and of itself, with strong character arcs, a fully envisioned world with its own familiar but unique political and cultural struggles, and interesting and relevant themes. It resolves its plots without leaving anything vital hanging and can stand on its own should it be the only story featuring these characters. But it is also a tale that begs for a sophomore outing.

I want to see Aiza, Husni, Sahar, and Basem grow and change in new and exciting ways. I want to know more about the various peoples Bayt-Sajji has absorbed and/or attempted to flatten and what other tensions there are in the empire’s narrative about itself. I want to know if there are smaller scale adventures to be had. I want, well, more. With a team as strong as Alfageeh & Shammas, I have no doubt they could craft a compelling next step for these characters and the world around them.

“Squire” is an excellent historical fantasy comic with soul, full of memorable characters and lively art and lettering with bounce. It has its flaws but is well worth a read for both fantasy buffs and even the fantasy averse.