Kaya, Book One: Kaya & the Lizard-Riders

by Wes Craig

Other authorsWes Craig (Illustrator), Wes Craig (Cover artist), Jason Wordie (Colourist), Tom Napolitano (Letterer), Erika Schnatz (Designer)
Paperback, 2023

Series

Description

"Kaya, a young girl with a magic arm and a fighting spirit is tasked with delivering her little brother to a far away safe harbor. There he's destined to find the answer to overthrowing the all-powerful empire that destroyed their home. Starting out on their journey, they'll face lizard-riders, monstrous beasts, and secrets that could tear brother and sister apart. From writer-artist Wes Craig (Deadly Class, Gravediggers Union) comes an astonishing new fantasy-adventure about siblings surviving in a world of monsters and mutants. Fans of Conan, Lord of the Rings, Bone, and Adventure Time, will enjoy this continuing series of books. Collects KAYA #1-5."--ONIX annotation

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

160 p.; 10 inches

Publication

Image Comics (2023), 160 pages

Pages

160

ISBN

1534324828 / 9781534324824

Local notes

Collects issues 1 through 5 of "Kaya", this being the "Lizard-Riders" plotline.

Library's rating

Library's review

A well-told story, where a simple, familiar plot is made likable and engrossing through very good characterisation, particularly of the two protagonists: the narrator and the title character. One of the book's great strengths in my opinion is precisely the chasm of meaning and emotion to
Show More
potentially be read out of that discrepancy.

I'm a bit on the fence regarding the art. At times, it's fantastic, at other times, too abstract and simplified for my tastes, and for the most part, it operates somewhere in the middle. The average, though, is much closer to the positive end than the negative, and art has (oddly enough) never been the biggest factor in my enjoyment of a comic. There are also a lot of fun and memorable creature design, with my personal favourite being the snake-tailed cyclopean vultures.

The plotline is just starting to throw some slight hurdles and (at least potentially original) twists on the wandering last-of-their-people formula when the volume ends, so it's tough to say if it will get any more inventive as it goes. It almost doesn't matter, though -- I'm invested in these two, now, and will enjoy seeing them traverse their next storyline whether it is batshit out there, or more standard fantasy quest fare.
Show Less

Rating

(4 ratings; 3.3)
Page: 0.3302 seconds