Writer: Kel McDonald / Penciller: Tyler Crook / Editor: Jim Gibbons / Proofreader: Abby Lehrke / Softcover / ComiXology Originals via Dark Horse Comics
Review by Paul Dunne.
2nd December 2022 (Released 3rd May 2022)
The Pitch: When you become an adult, you have to prove yourself, at least that's how it works for the Stoneport thieves. Ave has decided to illegally harvest healing moss from the Stone King, a mighty giant who roams the lands. Her theft goes even better than she could have dreamed. The biggest gem she's ever seen is her prize. But what she thought would buy her a ticket to adventure and a better life, brings disaster instead. Now her home is in danger and fixing her mistakes is the city's only hope.
It would be easy to say The Stone King is a simplistic YA story, but closer inspection reveals that it presents an interesting set of dichotomies. Whilst by now we're used to fascist empires and controlling states, ruling over a poverty-stricken populace, holding an imagined threat at bay (mostly because of Star Wars and, frankly, the Tories), we're not really used to environments where that threat is real and the ruling class may be somewhat correct in imposing its restrictions. But that is the world we find ourselves in. A giant walks this earth: The titular Stone King. Dangerous when aroused to ill temperament, yet a being whose body gives a medicinal balm created from the moss that grows on him. Also strange to us might be this almost guilded school of thievery, where a black market is tolerated and, to a certain extent, encouraged. Crime, it appears, is a necessary part of the economy, something that most people fail to understand. Here, it is a given. Yet more dichotomies await in the characters themselves. Ave is an androgynous presence, whose thievery and adventuring would traditionally suggest a more male set of characteristics, as would her look. But her compassion and pluck definitely feel more feminine. Add to this the shifting loyalties of the local guard that Ave teams up with in the story's latter half... Perhaps the book is more complex than it might first appear, especially to younger eyes?
The Stone King's storytelling is stripped back and efficient, which is probably the thing that might make some feel it's simplistic. But within that simplicity, that efficiency, there hide treasures. Treasures too adorn The Stone King himself, in this case, a red jewel that Ave steals, along with the healing moss from the King's body. And as anyone who ever starred with Elvis in one of his movies knows, you don't mess with the King. From the rite of passage, Ave chooses to take by stealing the jewel, the selling of which will make her officially part of the Stoneport Thieves, to the rite of passage she's forced to take when her actions cause the King to go on the rampage, the story becomes one of the roads taken and alliances made. Ave must work with the young guard, one of her oppressors, in order to survive. She is cut loose, gradually, from all the ties that bind her. Now she must choose her own destiny, a theme familiar and comforting to many YA readers.
This is my first time reading McDonald's work and they move the book along brilliantly. Cutting back on dialogue and going pretty much caption-free means, at least in comics, the writer's hand feels invisible, something I talked about in more detail in my piece on Step By Bloody Step and the 'Writer Vs. Artist' argument earlier this year. But McDonald's hand is definitely present here. It's in the difficult choices Ave must make, especially in the early chapters. They also create a nice, rich lexicon for the world that as with many other fantasy works, enhances the experience greatly. Crook's washes and watercolour creations make a beautiful, wintery tapestry for our edification. As with Harrow County (my first experience with Crook's art), there's magic embedded deep into the core of the page. He brings out McDonald's world into a kind of dark light. The Stone King feels like a beginning. You come away tantalised, hoping for more adventures. It's my complaint, really. There's just enough to get you started. Fingers crossed for more.
The Stone King is available at your local comic shop now.
