This review covers some general plot points, but is spoiler free; it doesn't spoil any surprises of major plot points for this or previous issues of the comic.

The Story

Artesia Annual #2 includes two 6-page short stories and a tour of the Known World.

"Hidden Hands", the first story, revisits Daradja and further explores the assassination attempt made on Artesia in Artesia Afield. We already know most of the generalities of this, but seeing the particulars up close is interesting, and helps point out how multifaceted Artesia's world is.

"Right Hands, Left Hands" gives a bit more insight to the Queen's Guard in the aftermath of the battles of Artesia Afield.

However, the true heart of the book is the Tour of the Known World, which runs 19 pages. It includes 2-4 pages each describing Daradja, the Middle Kingdoms, Palatia, the League, and the Unknown World, and is the best source material to date on Artesia's world. It also includes a great map of the Known World, which I had out when I was rereading the first two volumes of Artesia before these reviews, and which is very insightful.

The short story "Right Hands, Left Hands" and the map of the Known World are both reprinted in the next trade paperback, Artesia Afire. I expect that the Tour will eventually be occluded by an RPG sourcebook, though this is a much cheaper and still very informative source if you don't plan to go the RPG route. Inexplicably the "Hidden Hands" story isn't reprinted in any of the trades, even though it feels like a pretty integral part of the story. (Integral, but if I hadn't read it I wouldn't have missed it.)

The Storytelling

Each of the short stories is fair. Not as epic as the main story, but you, but it's really nice to see the spotlight on some other characters in Artesia's world. I always feel like there's a lot more going on in Artesia than I see, and these stories provide insight into that.

The Tour is very informative and well organized. I've sometimes found the text pieces in the backs of the trade paperbacks a little dense and overwhelming; conversely I found these Tour pages much easier to skim when I just wanted to look something up or get a slightly better impression of some location.

On the whole, any Artesia fan not planning to get the RPG should go far out of their way to get this book because of its Known World background; I think this annual was what helped the whole world to finally click in my head. If you're planning to eventually get the RPG sourcebook of the Known World, I have a bit harder time recommending this book, since I'd guess that only that first story is going to be unique.

Overall the content of the book is strong, and I give it an above average "4" out of "5" for Substance.

The Artwork

As usual, Mark Smylie's artwork is beautiful. There's a lot of talking heads in these stories, but somehow Smylie keeps even that interesting and eye-catching.

The Tour of the Known World is entirely stunning. It's laid out as a series of two-page spreads with core material in the middle, reference material on the edges, paintings of major structures in the geographical area acting as borders, and drawings of notable professions in the area running across the bottom. It looks nice and it also contains a supreme amount of information in a small space. If the RPG looks anything like this, it's going to be the best-looking RPG on the market.

The artwork of the book earns a full "5" out of "5" for Style, and if anything I'm more impressed with this than any of the other Artesia books because of that beautiful Tour.

Usage in RPGs

If it weren't for the fact that there's an Artesia RPG in the works, this would be the comic that everyone who wanted to play an Artesian game should run out and get. Heck, it still may be; we'll have to see what's in an eventual sourcebook for the RPG.

Conclusion

Artesia Annual #2 is a beautiful comic filled with terrific, auxilliary material about Artesia's Known World. I'd recommend it without reservation to anyone interested in seeing a scattering of material about a well-designed fantasy world and to any fan of Artesia not planning on picking up the Artesia RPG. (And if you are: I dunno. It depends on how much of the material ends up revisited there.)

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