After three solid rounds of play, Arcana Royale has reached its closing moments. Across this game of reality-altering card game, creators Cullen Bunn and A.C. Zamudio have played a high-stakes brand of poker with the very hearts and minds of their readers.
They’ve wagered that we could be intrigued by giant sock monkeys, scared by a game whose very outcome shapes our very world, and compelled by a young upstart (Hudson) with more piss and vinegar than all of the poker chips in Las Vegas.
Not every moment has always been a winning hand, but you can’t deny that Arcana Royale wasn’t this deeply satisfying exercise in how great genre storytelling can help us understand our world better. (In this case, what we’d wager, if anything, to return what’s been lost or stolen.)
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
More often than not, though, Arcana Royale has made even its own missteps seem compelling as Bunn and Zamudio were as bold and bright as they were stealthy and thoughtful in their efforts.
Now, after all the cards have been played, I can say Arcana Royale is a winner of the things that matter most.
After dispatching another player for attempting to, um, “remove the competition,” Hudson spends the bulk of this issue in the game’s last rounds/whatever term is applicable for magical poker tournaments. From a visual standpoint alone, that gives Zamudio (alongside colorist Bill Crabtree and letterer Josh Reed) the chance to show off some proper highlights.
As with past issues of Arcana Royale, the art team created a kind of visual montage, where we see the best moments from the game (chips falling, people losing poorly, etc.) told with a certain momentum as well as level of deliberate intent and succinctness. And that’s really been the best speed for Arcana Royale — it’s never been about the game per se, and those moments are best handled with brevity to let us wade through the juicy bits outside the confines of the actual game.
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
But in issue #4 especially, that visual device is also great for 1. providing humor and a little levity (pointing out the game’s ridiculous nature does help with our ongoing immersion) and 2. organizing so many events and narration in a way that feels more linear (when so much of this game isn’t nearly as efficient in and of itself).
And speaking of the play outside the game, that time was really defined by Hudson truly coming into herself in a major way. Across Arcana Royale #1-3, Hudson had proven been smart and savvy — sure, getting beaten up a couple times nearly proved otherwise, but like any great player/athlete, she had to learn the ropes in order to excel.
That’s exactly what she does in #4 as Hudson finally learned to play the game with a focus and prowess that was totally shocking but absolutely earned by the character’s personal arc. She stood toe-to-toe with the worst of the game (including the perpetually nasty Corvin) and emerged as this self-assured, totally dedicated dynamo who recognizes she’s been played and responds with a forward-moving approach that’d make even prime Michael Jordan a little jealous.
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
Truly, her emergence in this issue is a thing of beauty, and Hudson is no longer the rash idiot we’ve known but this force of nature. (She even looks more intimidating thanks to the art team’s solid choice of end-game dress/attire.) It’s not that she’s different, and this sense of uneven humanity still exists within her, but rather she moves with more grace and intent than ever before because she realizes she’s actually been playing some version of this game her whole life.
And, in a somewhat obvious but satisfying way, Hudson’s own performance is tied to Bunn. A prolific writer himself, I’d argue that Arcana Royale #4 is Bunn at his extra best — his narration is sharp and potent (and with just the right kind of action movie cheese); he’s able to discuss and dissect huge existential issues in a way that feels approachable but never any less intellectually stimulating; and he syncs with Hudson in a way that gives us this rich insight without dismissing Hudson as this very real character outside her creator.
In short, we see the core ideas of this book — fate and tragedy aren’t things that define us, but things we work through on the way to become ourselves — brought home in such a way that they’re wonderfully, undeniably real. It’s not merely hokey meta-ness for the sake of the gag, but a creator and character coalescing in a way that we see both of them, understand their connection and disconnect, and feel the power of a writer telling a deep, powerful story that’s as real as it gets.
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
And just like real life, the ending of Arcana Royale is a little, well, extra open-ended and/or a touch too undefinable. Yes, Hudson wins, but now that she has the power to re-write fate, what exactly is she going to do with that? Well, without spoiling too much, don’t expect something as hokey as, say, a touching reunion with her mother.
Instead, issue #4 is definitive in the sense that Hudson has all of the cards for the very first time, and she’s not going to waste that opportunity for one second. Whatever she does with it, however, just know that our budding card shark has some big opportunities on her side of the table, and she’s more than capable of making an informed decision after her journey.
And that, my friends, is the true lesson of Arcana Royale: It’s not about one path over the other, but being the kind of person who can own whatever world you choose. That good and bad, happy or sad, smart or dumb, etc. are less significant, and what really matters is having the focus, gumption, and chutzpah to walk a path no matter what it might mean.
That specific path for Hudson remains to be seen (mostly, given the “end credits scene…”), but I know that her creator has given her a mix of warmth and venom to make something for herself that matters if only to Hudson and no on else. In that way, Arcana Royale isn’t just a satisfying story for all the right reasons, but what happens when creators give us tales that truly, deeply matter to some shared sense of humanity.
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
Now, was Arcana Royale a totally perfect game? No, as even now there’s some major-ish issues worth mentioning. I still wish Reese would’ve been developed more; his role wasn’t ever made fully clear, and nothing about his interactions with Hudson in #4 felt satisfying either way. Similarly, the group “bankrolling” Hudson never got enough space to shine, and these folks felt a little flat/two-dimensional. But, hey, not even MJ could always play like it was March 28, 1990.
Don’t let any of that take one iota away from how great Arcana Royale was overall. The creators bet it all, and even with those hiccups, they walked away with a story about knowing yourself, never letting anyone fool you otherwise, and following a path that’s about your own values, principals, and goals. (It’s also a story very much about gambling on your own weird ideas, dreams, etc.)
So, do the smart thing: Slap down your own coin, be an active player, and let Arcana Royale bankrupt you of all your boredom and self-doubt.
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