
Verse
Book 1: ‘The Broken Half’ – Book 2: ‘The Second Gate,’ Page 8
Updates: Thursdays
By Sam Beck
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Three years ago, Vault Comics announced that it had acquired the fantasy webcomic “Verse” for its Wonderbound imprint. As part of that deal, the webcomic version was taken down upon publication of the first book a year later and book two remained unserialized. As a long time fan (I’ve got the Hiveworks kickstarted copy of book 1,) this was quite a sad development. However! With the third book imminent, Sam and Vault have re-released book one in its original format with book 2 following weekly. But, I’m sure you’re asking, how does the comic live up to all the marketing hype? Is it truly the second coming? Well, no, but it is a damn good fantasy comic.
When I was re-reading Book 1 for this review, what struck me most was how well paced “Verse” is. There’s very little faffing about at the outset. After two pages of larger world-setting framed as epigraphs, the story proper begins with Fife, the first of our deuteragonists. He wants to leave home for the big city and by page ten, he’s on his way. Yet in those ten pages, we learn his vocation (smith,) see the provincial nature of his life, how he loves it and how it mismatches with his ambitions, and learn that he lost his brother Arran three years prior. It’s a remarkable economy of information and sets the comic off on the right foot.
Then Beck does it again in the next 8 pages, introducing us to how verse magic works, putting a stumbling block in Fife’s quest, and reorienting the narrative from a hero’s journey to a quest for information with the mysterious appearance of Neitya, the second of our deuteragonists. Neitya has almost no memories and horns on her head (a new development, it appears.) Questions abound and only some are answered by the end of the book, like where DID Fife’s family get that amulet and what’s the deal with the mysterious traveler who set these events in motion.
I wish I could say the comic doesn’t get more complicated from there on out but it’s a fantasy story with at least 150 more pages in the first book to go. By the end, we’re introduced to sparring factions, lost history, hidden lore, monsters, monstrous people, a whole cast of side characters, and an emotional journey for our deuteragonists as they navigate their pasts, their ambitious, and their talents (or lack thereof.) The ratchet turns slowly and Beck never lets us lose sight of the central characters’ development.
There is one page in chapter one that showcases why I love “Verse” so much and why it is able to keep its story feeling small even as it sprawls outwards. It’s page 30, according to the url at least. Entirely silent, it’s three panels on top of a full page spread. They’re laid out as if it were a nine-panel grid, forming a triangle in the top two rows. It’s a montage of the two characters traveling, the distance between them closing with each panel, ending with them nearly overlapping, tiny against the luscious background of verdant green hills and calm blue waters.
It’s a quiet page. A simple page. An effective page, full of immediate meaning and subtextual information.
While it’s hard to notice Beck’s artwork and coloring improving, as it doesn’t take the same kind of dramatic leaps or refining of styles, as many others do, one can see it in the way she draws hands. At first, they’re fairly stiff. One could be forgiven for thinking they’re inarticulate marionette hands at times. By book one’s end, joints bend and flex as they should, gripping and holding objects with believability and, more importantly, conveying subtlety and character. Colors pop with confidence, rendering the already beautiful landscapes and ominous dungeons even more haunting and awesome.
There is little to quipple with in “Verse.” It starts strong and only gets stronger. Book 2’s few pages already whet the appetite of promised answers and dual narratives set to crash together against a backdrop of larger intrigue. The only thing I can be annoyed by is that the new site doesn’t scale particularly well on mobile or tablet. It’s a very barebones reader without many (or any) of the trappings I’ve come to expect from webcomics sites, be they tumblr powered, Hiveworks built, or even more bespoke like Yannow’s “The Contradictions” was.
So, once again, I must ask: does “Verse” earn its hype? Before my re-read, I would have said maybe. 200 pages and two hours of reading later, unable to put down the comic and itching to read the full book 2 from my library, I think you know what my answer will be. Fantasy comics may be a dime a dozen on the internet, especially over at Webtoons, but none quite hit like “Verse.”