I made a comment in my review of Edenwood #2 that I needed markers to fully track everything. That’s because creator Tony S. Daniel has put in heaps and heaps of efforts to craft a rich and layered fantasy world, one with 10,000 moving parts and history galore.
Issue #3 of Edenwood, then, is the first time I felt truly lost amid this story — and perhaps that makes the book an even more rousing success.
The heart of the book, of course, is young Rion, and we get to see (through time spent in both the past and present) his continued development. That’s the thing you really need to keep a focus on, as everything has to do with Rion moving from this young boy into an exceptional Demon Killer, and all the lore, geography, and bloody action informs that process. That doesn’t mean Rion is the most important — he’s got a proper cast around him, including the every intriguing Bastille — but it does mean he’s the center of gravity for this whole tale. If you can track his movements, then you can move through this world with some ease and purpose.
And even if you can’t, that’s still a decidedly good thing. Because, in issue #3 especially, things got really quite complicated. There’s a powerful young girl named Henrietta, the rising influence of vampires amid the demon-witch war, and yet another seemingly super-powered kid named Otto. If you’re smarter than me and can track it like the 900 chapters of LOTR, then good on you. But for this fella, all this new stuff builds an ever more robust and complex world — one that isn’t always to track. Sure, having Rion helps a ton, and he’s either involved directly or directly enough to manage all these tidbits.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
But I mostly have the unwavering confidence that Daniel is building toward something, and what an issue like this represents is a kind of wonderful growing pain. That moment where we’re piling every piece of the Ikea cabinet or desk on the floor before it’s all dutifully assembled. (And hopefully not backwards.) There’s a sense and purpose to all these new players and story bits, and it’s clear that Daniel wants a busy world so he can give Rion a proper challenge and make everything feel all the more vivid and alive for those efforts.
A chunk of this sense often comes through the art (where Daniel is joined by the exceptional colorist Leonardo Paciarotti). Be it extra savage battles, or character building/development via their outfits (motorcycles galore this issue!), it’s the visuals where we have a kind of ally in shaping our perceptions and showing us the connections and tensions that exist within this world that’s very much still developing in front of our very eyes. And if nothing else, the art continues just to be utterly gorgeous; Daniel keeps our attention just through the sheer weight and heft of it all, and no amount of being lost ever truly disconnects you entirely from this multifaceted place that will likely reference at least a handful of your favorite action flicks and fantasy tales.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
Plus, it’s worth noting that the emotional range of these characters continues to evolve, and in issue #3 especially, there’s more nuance and even some shades of grey, which does wonders in giving us direction without forcing us into any particular take or stance.
That last bit, especially, is something I actively want to revisit. I’d mentioned already about wanting to be connected to this world, and how we always have a beating heart (Rion) to engage with in kind. But in the time that it takes Daniel to execute his grand vision, I also think this issue demonstrates another important inspiration: Game of Thrones.
That whole series had a million moving parts, and while maybe it didn’t end so effortlessly or gracefully (or in a way that made sense?), you kept on because it was a place worth getting lost in. It wasn’t about the end result (even as Edenwood is clearly making moves toward a definitive and more compelling finale) but enjoying whatever threads tickled your fancy. Here, that might be the the weirdo, conniving governor, or the gang of warriors/Batman vigilantes that Rion encounters.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
Either way, you not only follow these folks because they’re extra shiny and thought-provoking, but you can capture what you need from them, and that lets you remain on top of everything without having realized it. In that sense, it’s the perfect kind of extended world-building — done to give you these pockets to live in without preventing you from seeing the whole sordid, bloody world. If you engage hard enough, this book just might pay off in the best kinds of way — and if not, your faves will still ring deeply and utterly true. (Rion, if you’re interested, is like a little bit of John Snow meets Robb and Arya Stark.)
The future of Edenwood looks bright, especially because there’s a gimmick coming in issue #4 that I think will keep the focus firmly on Rion, help streamline and consolidate some of the story, and still give us all that big, bold humanity that we already crave from this book. And if you’re a touch out of step, don’t feel too bad. Just keep moving with this great beast, and I promise you that only good things will happen (but certainly not to any of your faves).
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