This review covers some general plot points, and does give away some major plot points from the first volume of this comic, but doesn't spoil any surprises in this, the second volume.

I also didn't offer this warning in the first volume, but this volume does have mature themes: the violence that you'd expect, but also some sex (respectfully portrayed). I find it all appropriate and non-offensive, but you have been warned.

The Story

Volume 1 of this saga, Artesia, ended with Artesia decapitating her king, Bran, who had betrayed her and then gathering together an army to lead into the lowlands, to help the Middle Kingdoms hold off the attacking Empire of Thessid-Gola.

There are two cores to the story, one personal and one national. The personal issue is this: Artesia has killed her king and taken control of his armies; what does this make her? Queen? Usurper? Or something else? The national issue, meanwhile, relates to Artesia leading an army into the Middle Kingdoms, where a fierce war is already being waged.

In the course of this second volume we'll learn more about the progress of the war, the tactics of the leaders, and most importantly about one of the most dangerous allies that the Empire of Thessid-Gola has cultivated.

The Continuity

This is the second volume thus far of The Book of Dooms, a story which Mark Smylie says will eventually run either 7 or 22 volumes, depending on how much stamina he has. (Three of the volumes are out thus far.) You could probably read this volume without reading the first, but I wouldn't particularly suggest it. The Artesia story reads well as a whole.

The story of Artesia is set in the very richly developed Known World, one of the most detailed worlds that I've seen in any medium. I wrote in my previous review that it can be a bit overwhelming because there's so much information about this world, and it's all so foreign, but the further I get into this series, the more confident I feel about it.

When I reread this volume for this review I kept a map (from a later volume) handy so that I could really understand what was going on. This helped me come up with the following quick summary of how the war has gone, up to the start of this volume, which will help orient you a bit. Some of the discussions of the Isliklids could be considered minor spoilers, as they're slowly being revealed in this (and the next) volume:

The main war seen thus far in Artesia is the invasion of the Middle Kingdoms by the Empire of Thessid-Gola. Thessid-Gola lies to the southwest, and they invaded either over the Watch Wall (which borders the Middle Kingdoms to the west) or by sea (which borders the Middle Kingdoms to the south), with the aid of a traitorous ruler in Angora, a Middle Kingdom land next to the sea and the wall. (See page 125 of Artesia for this betrayal.)

Following the taking of that initial foothold the Empire has swept across the western half of the Middle Kingdoms. All of Dania (the western Kingdoms) has fallen and the Thessid-Gola armies are now at the River Abenbrae, which bisects the Middle Kingdoms. A vanguard of Thessid-Gola's army has crossed the river near the city of Collwyn, but is now stranded, and the forces of the Middle Kingdoms are planning to strike back. If the armies of Thessid-Gola can battle across the Abenbrae then the university city of Therapoli itself is at risk.

Meanwhile one of the Empire's allies is slowly coming to the fore. We are beginning to learn of the Isliklids, a race of demigods who rule a land between the Empire of Thessid-Gola and the Middle Kingdoms, and who are generals among the Empire's forces. They bring darkness to the field, for their history is a dire one (and is described on page 185 of the comic, a text piece well worth reading before you get into the book).

The Storytelling

As with the first volume of Artesia, I think the strength of this book continues to be its portrayal of a war-torn land. In this second volume we're slowly introduced to the greater world, and we see the great war between Thessid-Gola and the Middle Kingdoms actually unfolding before us. More so than in the first volume I was impressed by the way in which the battles were portrayed. They were sometimes confusing but seemed realistic, strategic, and well described. I said that the storytelling in the first volume was epic, and that's even more true here, because the great war is now revealed; what came before was prologue.

The plotting of this new volume was also stronger than that of the original. The entire volume had a very well-described arc, and I felt that the ending was cathartic and moving. I felt like the first volume was similarly arced, but this one felt much more emotional and realistic.

Beyond that I've found the page-to-page scripting of Artesia to be fair thus far, but within this volume is my favorite sequence in the story to date, a flat out great scene that runs from page 107-113. I won't spoil it other than to say that it's moving and it made me empathize more with Artesia than anything before.

The characterization of Artesia continues to be good. The characterization of the other characters continues to be a bit weak. As much as anything that's because I continue to have problems telling them apart. This is partially an artistic decision, with a lot of the characters looking somewhat similar, and it's partly a writing decision, with Smylie usually not using characters names because he thinks doing so it unrealistic (a point that he discusses in the later Artesia Annual #2, and whih I generally disagree with; there are times when storytelling needs to be more important than realism; I think this is one, and the fact that other readers are likewise confused tends to support this point).

While reading this volume I had a bit of a revelation, when I came to the realization that there are any number of smaller stories within Artesia which just get a panel here or there, but which are slowly being revealed. I did not catch any of these the first time through, but on my second read I picked out some subplots and was entirely enlighted. The two people we see embracing on the bottom of page 111 are relevant as are the two deaths we see at the bottom of page 146. The fact that Smylie includes fairly big stories in fairly small spaces is impressive and greatly increases the rereadability of the comic and the feeling that it's taking part in a large and big world.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that Artesia continues to take place in a large, well-described world. In my first read of Artesia Afield I continued to be confused by a lot of the specifics of the world, and it was only in reading a second time, with a map in hand, that I felt truly comfortable with everything that had happened. However, I did feel much more confident about the background when reading this volume, than when I read the first volume, and that was without Smylie relying on any of the slightly clumsy information dumps that we found in volume one.

On the whole, Artesia Afield has the strengths of the first volume: epic storytelling, great dark ages warfare, and a well defined central character. However the writing is also improved over the first volume, with some better scripting (which was already good) and some better plotting (which was already very good). As a result I've given Artesia Afield a full "5" out of "5" for Substance, with the caveat that it takes careful reading (and perhaps rereading) to get the most from the story.

The Artwork

In the previous volume, the artwork in Artesia was the highlight of the comic, and that doesn't change here. Smylie continues to produce beautiful, painted artwork. Most of it is pretty grim, with dull colors, but that makes the occasional bright work stand out that much more.

I remain amazed at the detail that Smylie puts into these books, and I don't understand how he puts Artesia out on anything like a regular schedule as a result. (See, for example, the vast army moving on pages 136-137). With the battles growing larger and more intricate in this volume, that detail is shown off to even more amazing effect.

The Presentation

This volume is laid out identical to the previous one: 192 pages on heavy, glossy white paper. Each issue is headed by a two page spread, which was the original cover, and is also flanked by Known World poetry, which I'd guess was originally on the inside covers. Again, the back pages are filled with text pages about the Known World.

On the whole, for obvious reasons, Artesia Afield earns a "5" out of "5" for Substance.

Usage in RPGs

If you found the previous volume useful for PRGs, this one will be too. HeroQuest, RuneQuest, and Conan players will all find something that strikes them, while the whole comic series of course acts as a great prelude to the upcoming Known World RPG.

Conclusion

I liked the original Artesia. This new volume, Artesia Afield just improves on that. It has all the strengths of the original, plus the already good writing is better and the artwork is entirely consistent. If you liked volume one, you should of course pick this up, and if you haven't, but are intrigued by a low-fantasy God-ridden world of warfare, you should go back and start at the beginning.

Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.