[Featured artwork by Alexander Utkin]
Welcome back to our Summer Comics Binge of Alexander Utkin’s Eisner-nominated series “Gamayun Tales,” where I’m reading through all five stories that make up the collection of modernized Russian folk tales so far.
“Gamayun Tales I” was initially released in individual hardback editions, with one story per book, before being collected in a paperback volume. “Gamayun Tales II” skipped this format and released its pair of stories in a single paperback edition. For these reviews I’m reading the collected editions.
Last week we got the story of the Merchant on his way home and were introduced to Vodyanoy, the water spirit, to whom the Merchant unknowingly gave up his newly born son. This week’s story, ‘Tyna of the Lake,’ sees the Merchant’s Son heading into Vodyanoy’s underwater kingdom accompanied by one of his daughters, Tyna. So, without further ado, let’s dive in. Pun intended.
Written and Illustrated by Alexander UtkinCover by Alexander Utkin
Translated by Lada MorozovaThe widely acclaimed Gamayun Tales returns with this exciting third instalment.
After a deal with Vodyanoy the Water Spirit sees the Merchant’s son forced into a life of servitude under water, a not-so-chance encounter with Vodyanoy’s daughter Tyna, may mean that the merchant’s son has a chance at freedom. But dangerous creatures lie in the deep blue… will the two youngsters be able to survive long enough to plan their escape?
With ‘Tyna of the Lake’ being the final story of “Gamayun Tales I,” Alexander Utkin sends the volume out with a bang. This is probably my favorite of the tales so far and that’s due to the tale’s mixture of wonder and adventure that flows unhindered from beginning to end. To start with the setting, Utkin is able to build and present a world in its entirety in this story; we get to see great vistas of Vodyanoy’s kingdom, but also get to peek into different corners of it. We explore Tyna’s home and how it functions, we get to see Miss Testudo’s academic stone circle, and a great stone tower with the kingdom’s underwater sun housed at its height. This isn’t so much to say that the other two stories haven’t had their own worlds, because they have, particularly with ‘The King of Birds, which had the different metal kingdoms, but they serve the story in its folklore-y pattern, rather than opening up before the reader’s eyes as Vodyanoy’s kingdom does.
The characters that inhabit these spaces seem to feature a little more prominently too. Miss Testudo, a wise turtle who teaches magic and feels reminiscent of Master Oogway from the Kung Fu Panda franchise, is in a few scenes in the story and even just her involvement makes the world feel that little more filled. There’s something that really captures the imagination about her character and her stone circle classroom. It adds a really mystical element to Vodyanoy’s kingdom and I’d really like to have a story about her character and how she came to be a part of the kingdom.
Another character who pushes the kingdom into a different direction is Sir Lobsterrific. Yep, you read that right: Sir Lobsterrific. It goes without saying that he is a huge lobster, and his role in the story is to serve as champion for the kingdom and act as a means through which the Merchant’s Son can gain some freedoms; Vodyanoy literally says “If you defeat Sir Lobsterrific, then you shall avoid slavery.” This line cracked me up; it’s such an extreme situation, but it still just feels so over-the-top and the champion’s name can’t be taken too seriously either. Anyway, Sir Lobsterrific is initially just a one-note villainous figure for the Merchant’s Son to overcome, but he is later revisited, with the Merchant Son befriending him, something that others have struggled to do due to him being “notoriously austere.” I really liked the revisiting of the character because it illustrated the Merchant’s Son’s role in the kingdom after the disappointment of water magic not being his “forte,” as Miss Testudo described it.
The final characters that build the shape of the kingdom are the Crab Squadron. Partly formidable, partly completely harmless, they are Vodyanoy’s kingdom’s stormtroopers and they play their required roles in the story very well.
Continued belowWith the kingdom of Vodyanoy so nicely formed, the story of ‘Tyna of the Lake’ also stands alone much better than the previous two stories. Utkin recaps the events of the previous two stories at the start, but unlike the other two stories, there is little in the way of clear set-ups for future stories and we get to focus on the trials of the Merchant’s Son and Tyna. Together, they team up to earn different freedoms and eventually their total liberation from Vodyanoy and the story is a whole lot of fun. The story is a lot more like a family-friendly adventure movie than the previous two, with some really heartfelt moments in the second half being provided through Tyna questioning her own place in the kingdom. In these scenes, unlike with the aforementioned over-the-top moments, Tyna’s freedom and her heritage are delved into in a serious and sensitive manner. It’s the Merchant’s Son who starts the conversation about Tyna’s parentage and while this does read as pretty blunt and insensitive at first, I think that is mostly just my own interpretation of the very direct dialogue; it may not be the same for the book’s target middle grade audience.
Interestingly, as much as the story does standalone, Tyna’s heritage isn’t fully revealed in the story until the final chapter which feels like a bonus chapter rather than an intended part of ‘Tyna of the Lake.’ The chapter changes the perspective of Vodyanoy a little, revealing that he took Tyna into his care after her village was burnt down by a dragon. It gives a sympathetic element to his character which has otherwise been quite lacking and gives a slightly lighter edge to his control of Tyna, which makes him quite complicated, but again, for a middle grade audience, I might be over complicating things in my interpretation.
Onto a lighter topic to close: Utkin’s artwork. In ‘Tyna of the Lake,’ Utkin’s visuals are as good as ever, with this issue being washed in swathes of vibrant green and blue hues. I can’t help but be drawn into the underwater kingdom and want to visit it (when it’s not under Vodyanoy’s rule) and meet these characters, particularly Miss Testudo who Utkin instils with a visual sense of grace and wisdom. Despite these elements though, the standout moments in the artwork come through the clash between Sir Lobsterrific and the Merchant’s Son, and a splash page depicting the latter’s childhood. Utkin’s panelwork for the fight sequence is incredibly successful in injecting dynamism and energy into the sequence, with his compositions switching back and forth from close-up to wide shots to ramp up the pacing too. As for the splash page, Utkin breaks away from distinct panels and casts flashes of the Merchant’s Son’s memories into his own air bubbles as he recounts his childhood to Tyna. It breaks from the standard form we’ve seen in the series and demands a greater appreciation for the beauty of the moment.
Overall, ‘Tyna of the Lake’ is a fantastic story to close out the first volume of “Gamayun Tales,” and I’m really looking forward to Utkin’s offerings in Volume 2.
