Obscure Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.
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R.D.W: A Tale of Lost Fantasy by Marco Rudy
Contains Mild Spoilers
In his afterword, Marko Rudy explains that R.D.W began life as a pitch to Dark Horse Comics for him to write and illustrate a spin-off series of The Witcher franchise. This, of course, comes as no surprise to anyone with a passing familiarity with The Witcher, either from the books, TV show or video games. Our story begins starring a white haired protagonist, and there is much talk of an ongoing war and an elven uprising. The fist thing that went through my head when reading this comic was; "Ah, clearly this guy really wanted to write a Witcher comic."
If that sounds like a negative, it isn't, although you'd be forgiven for thinking that way. I'm a great lover of stories that started life as an attempt to write a licenced product, before the creator just goes 'fuck it!' and files off the serial number and writes their own. It's this kind of genesis that has created some of the greatest of stories, and I'm always eager to see new ones grow.
If you're a fan of The Witcher there is much to love here. Our protagonist is Astrid, a wandering former soldier of some renown who is now wracked with amnesia and mental damage, unsure if her visions are memories or hallucinations. Half dead and half starved, she nonetheless saves a group of deserters from a monstrous death, who then proceed to debate the merits of helping this clearly unbalanced individual or deserting her.
The comic is relatively short, and moves at a brisk pace given that dialogue is light and the action is swift and over quickly. In his introduction Rudy explains that the comic is not to be rushed, and that each page warrants a slower, more detailed examination. Indeed, the pages are packed with details, particularly the flashbacks and visions that only impart ambiguous information and may require multiple reads to coax out clues about Astrid's past.
The other reason for the comic's short length is, however, more obvious, and that is the quality of the art Rudy puts into it. Each page is a work of art in it's own right, assembled via traditional means, many feel as though they belong hanging framed in a gallery. Rudy has painstakingly assembled each sequence, taking no shortcuts and employing no digital trickery. I imagine Rudy would have made the book longer if he could have done, but the time and care required to bring such details to the page meant that he had to stump for quality over quantity.
Yet what quality it is. Rudy really does bring his all to the protect, rendering all elements of a page with maximum detail, even down to background characters and loose trinkets. From green forests to festering swamps, each brushstroke brings you closer and deeper into this mysterious world. Whether it's the beautifully snow capped peaks of a mountain range, or the berserker blooded kaleidoscope of a psychedelic vision, there's always something fantastic to look at on every page of R.D.W, and Rudy has cut no corners when it comes to executing his vision.
R.D.W is a short but sharp shot of adrenaline injected directly into your eyeballs. Rudy ends the story on a 'To be continued,' committing himself to the unenviable task of continuing the tale with such high effort artwork. Thinking of him toiling away, working on more of those beautiful pages, makes me feel as though he and his exhausted protagonist Astrid may have a lot in common.
R.D.W is a rare thing, and one that could be easily dismissed due to it's short length in this world where the lionisation of 'content' has led us to value quantity more than quality. There's all sorts to discover between it's pages, and deserves to be known as more than The Witcher story Dark Horse wouldn't accept. I don't know how far Marco plans to go with his dark fantasy tale, but I raise a glass to him, because I'm eager to find out.
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Jack Harvey 2023. R.D.W A Tale of Lost Fantasy (c) 2021 Marco Rudy. Images used under Fair Use.
