Far out in the middle of the desert there stands this enormous tower. Right now, it’s in transition: its ruler has recently passed away, its citizens are coming under attack, the new regime seems to want nothing to do with anything abnormal, and there’s a danger approaching from far away places. Simon Spurrier and Jeff Stokely elaborate on their bizarre fantasy story, deepening the mystery and amping up the intrigue.
Written by Simon Spurrier
Illustrated by Jeff Stokely & Andre May
The mysterious killer hunting the citizens of the Spire strikes again, and Sha will be the one to blame if she can’t track them down!
World-building is one of the hallmarks and hindrances of fantasy fiction. We’re drawn to these types of stories partly because we want to see a world different from our own, a place where crazy things have the chance to happen, where we can escape mundanities of our current reality. We want to know about these imaginative places, to be able to conjure up and imagine what it would be like to live over there; we like to explore, and therefore seek out characters who will help lead us through all the interesting nooks and crannies of these far out places. The problem, though, is often times, fantasy fiction tends to fall too much in love with world-building. It spends so much time lingering in a place that it feels like nothing ever happens (sometimes, this is the intent of the story, like Jan Morris’s Hav books, which are great, or the super boss collaborative project, Think of a City) or frequently relies on shorthand to establish the setting, so there’s this overwhelming mood of everything being European. A lot of this comes from Tolkienism, as well, and it just feels generic
The best world-building stories guide us through the environment without ever having to draw attention to it. Characters exist and live in the setting, are maybe as bored with this place’s mundanities as we are with our current reality. Think about that lived in feeling from Star Wars, or how much better Harry Potter got when there wasn’t constantly someone hanging around the fringes going, “LOOK HARRY!! MAGIC!!” Afterward, those worlds became way more intriguing while never bombarding us with information or detail, though all the information was totally there. Honestly, many of the strongest world-building stories don’t bother to explain much about the world at all — the place just sort of exists.
From the looks of it, Jeff Stokely and Simon Spurrier’s “The Spire” is firmly lodging itself in one of the more effective world-building stories. There’s a super cool setting, populated with interesting characters. Spurrier explores the various avenues and alleyways through the perspective of one of the handful of characters — so there’s always at least some sense of forward momentum in the narrative — while Stokely throws down a range of styles for the various parts of the city. None of the tiers feel alike, and they all sport their distinct personalities and cultures, but it still comes off like its part of the main city. You could read this comic once and be caught up in the central mystery and oncoming danger, and you could go read it again and be swept up in just how well it goes about laying out this world.
In addition to expanding on the setting of “The Spire,” Spurrier and Stokely introduce more of the cast and set out stronger relationship connections. You understand why Sha has her pet name for her lover in the first issue. You understand more of that goblin thing’s mission in the further parts of the desert.
There’s still a lot of confusion going on, from the attack on the Marchioness at the beginning to the changing of the royal guard to these things that reminded me of Sand People coming closer and closer to the tower. This is only the second issue of an eight-issue series (and since Boom! has the absolute worst policy with trades, it might be worth getting the collective issues rather than waiting for the whole thing to conclude), and Spurrier and Stokely are still mostly setting up the plot, but their pacing and delivery is totally top-notch. Andre Way’s colors help draw you in and Steve Wands conjures up some neat auditory-like tricks with his letters and balloons. I also really dig the borderless panels, which to me feels like this world is so big and massive that it can’t be constrained in one tiny spot.
With interesting characters to help lead us around this interesting place, “The Spire” #2 elaborates more on its setting, while never losing sight of the story its telling. The characters feel authentic and whole, even if we still only know the bare minimum about them (Stokely does some stellar work with interpersonal body language for everyone). The book is intriguing and confident in what it’s doing. It takes what it’s already set down and just keeps growing.
Final Verdict: 8.9 – A strong sense of place, character, and collaboration are helping mold this into one of the most effective world-building mysteries out right now.
