THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! Set in a fictional world called the Squashed Forest, Seed Part One from Ellie Durkin follows adorable wizard Figbert and his adventures (or misadventures) around the woodland. Whilst Seed is only the first comic in a planned trilogy, the lore of the Squashed Forest, and Figbert himself, has been available to readers since 2019, via Durkin’s blog of the same name. Here, she has published poems, short stories and notes about her fantasy world. Knowing that the world was already pre-established gave me great hopes for this well-mapped-out Thought Bubble debut.
The introduction to Seed Part One is written entirely in poetic rhyming couplets, as we follow a bird travelling far from the Squashed Forest, to somewhere where “light reaches all things”. This bird has his eye on something red and shiny, the only illustration to differ from the dark blue, thin pencil lines that craft the bird and looming castle. The vignette ends on a somewhat humorously morbid note, as the bird is unable to grasp his prize (think Ice Age’s Scrat the Squirrel and his beloved nut).
After this, we transition to the Squashed Forest, and to Figbert. Contrasting with the more medieval style and traditional meter of the first few pages, Figbert’s world is bright and full of colour, with vivid line drawings illustrating the abundance of nature, and a much more relaxed, stream-of-consciousness writing style. Figbert himself is illustrated very sweetly, with an onion-shaped head, an endearing smile and rosy, red cheeks. As a lover of gardening, his one wish is to make his shrinking marrows grow; to do so, he needs to follow a recipe for a “dance of rejuvenation”, which he finds in a book of magical spells. He has most of the ingredients and the wherewithal, but, despite warnings that the final addition is extinct, he sets off searching anyway. What could go wrong?
Durkin has done an incredible job crafting a warm, fuzzy, magical world that feels both contained, and like it has many more secrets to be unveiled as we look forward to Part Two. The Squashed Forest is shaded softly and carefully, with its beautiful array of pastel colours evoking the more magical aspects of Figbert’s home. The runic endpapers and chapter dividers definitely intrigued me, with much magic and lore sure to come into play as the story proceeds.
The final cliffhanger will surely cement the reader’s decision to follow Durkin’s work and keep an eye out for Part Two. For now, if you’d like to immerse yourself in the warm world of the Squashed Forest, Seed Part One will be available at Thought Bubble Convention 2024.
Ellie Durkin (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Lydia Turner
Visit Ellie Durkin’s site here
Pickled Durkin will be at Table E17 in the Redshirt Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2024 runs from November 11th-17th with the convention weekend taking place on the 16th-17th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2024 coverage so far in one place here.
Art by Rocío Arreola Mendoza
