10 YEARS OF THE BF SIX TO WATCH! Part of the new collaboration between Dark Horse Comics and Tapas, Jem Milton’s The Flying Ship Vol. 1 brings the artist’s webcomic series to the printed page in a bumper 250-plus page compilation. Described as a queer adventure story in the Dark Horse promotional blurbs, The Flying Ship is a sprawling fantasy story with an extensive cast and a rich world-building foundation. One which takes its inspiration from elements of Slavic folklore.
This first volume acts as both introduction to the history of the realms The Flying Ship is set in and its protagonist Dobrinia. In that regard it both sets up longer-term plotlines while also bringing us directly into this world with a greater sense of urgency and immediacy, as we see it through Dobrinia’s eyes.
In the land of Glas we discover a society where magic has been outlawed by the ruling Tzar but still exists in more clandestine pockets. An introductory sequence provides some background on the royal family and their own conflicts but the main narrative quickly veers off in the direction of Dobrinia and her quest to marry the Tzar’s daughter; an objective that can only be achieved by someone who can build a flying ship.
Dobrinia’s irascibility is tied into her past which is gradually revealed as the chapters progress. Along the way we also see her assembling the beginnings of her crew on the flying ship including dog Brick and magic-dabbling student Tam, while encountering some of the supernatural races that inhabit this environment. There’s a lot to keep track of given the separate if interconnected narrative strands, and Milton’s plotting looks to the long-term, but what they establish here feels epic in scope and ambition.
As I have remarked on in the past here at Broken Frontier there’s a fluidity and sense of animation to Milton’s page structures and panel-to-panel pacing that is often sublime in its execution. Lettering is used to its full potential as well in adding to the energy and emotion of the page, while their use of visual metaphor is so powerful for its often claustrophobic portentousness. Milton was one of the very first of our Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ creators and this recognition of their work by a major comics publisher is long overdue.
Jem Milton • Dark Horse Comics/Tapas, £22.99
Review by Andy Oliver
2024 marks the tenth year of Broken Frontier’s ‘Six to Watch‘ initiative. Look for articles throughout the year celebrating the work of those artists who have been a part of the programme.
