Eye of Newt #1 from Dark Horse Comics is a feast for the eyes. Every single page of this first issue is packed with tons of detail that fills the entirety of every page, leaving no trace of negative/white border space. This would be impressive in its own right for a major title, but here it’s even more incredible when you realize that one man, Michael Hague served as writer and artist on the book. He even had time to do the books cover art as well. It’s impressive to see what a single writer/artist can do when he has a passion for his craft.
Eye of Newt #1 is an old-fashioned fantasy tale of a young boy, Newt and his adventure into becoming a true wizard. He is aided by his master in preparing for his upcoming trails and we get to see a load of the standard cliché fantasy tropes. Hague seems to pluck plot elements from all the great fantasy tales that we have grown up with. We get to see Newt face his fears in a cave that plays tricks on the mind much like in Star Wars and we also see him receive a magic ring that grants him powers, one of which is invisibility much like in The Lord of the Rings.
Hague is managing an entire kitchen during the dinner rush all on his own, so having everything come together in a cohesive way is a monumental task. The art in the book is solid, evoking the feel of an old-fashioned fantasy adventure, but many may find it not to their liking. The art style is more reminiscent of what you would see in those old pen-and-paper adventure games of days gone by. We get lots of exaggerated visuals without much detail given to human characters and faces. In most any other kind of story the art would fall flat, but because of this books setting and world it fits well.
The writing is where things seem to become a little convoluted and messy. There almost feels like there is too much going on and too much being framed into a single issue that the book may leave you questioning what’s going on much of the time. Things happen so fast and change pace at such a break neck speed that you’ll get readers whiplash. Eye of Newt is a limited series, so I know there is a lot of story to cram into a small number of books, but I felt like issue one could have filled three books with what it wanted to tell.
We don’t get any real background of any of the main characters and secondary and even tertiary characters can pop in for a single panel or two, or take up pages of space for no adequate reason. Heroes/neutrals end up becoming villains only because it serves to move the plot forward and not because they have any reason to do so story wise. Eye of Newt feels like a long book and yet it’s hard to understand anything that’s really going on.
The whole issue sort of reminds me of the old Heavy Metal. It’s really cool and grandiose, but I have very little idea of what the hell is going on most of the time. And yet, there is something about Eye of Newt that has me interested, has me curious about whats to come in the next issue. If you are looking for a wild and crazy fantasy tale then Eye of Newt #1 should be on your list. If anything, the artwork alone is worth the price of admission on this book.
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