Comic Book - NOVO - The DreamCage

We sent Susan Omand into the Alterna archives and their AnniverSERIES digital release of NOVO Vol1...

The Alterna AnniverSERIES celebrates 10 years of quality creator-owned comics and is a great chance for those of us slightly late to the Alterna party to catch up on some of their most popular titles. You’ll already know how much of a fan our esteemed bossman Steve is of their title The Chair so, when their latest AnniverSERIES release hit the office inbox I pounced on it before he had a chance to call dibs.

In NOVO, the Aquans and the Terans were at war. The Terans ruled the lands and the skies and the Aquans ruled the oceans until one day, the Aquans invaded, demanding that the Terans give up their sole rights to their land. Of course the Terans refuse so the Aquans place a curse on them, dooming the race to die out in a most heart wrenching and drawn out way. The Terans fight back, trying to for the Aquans to lift the curse and so began the war. We learn all this and a lot more of the Teran history in this first volume as the elderly Teran Ma-Ma of Renovo (the NOVO of the title) recounts it as a campfire tale when they stop to rest after a hunt. We also learn that NOVO isn’t all Teran, being called the first of his kind and the last of his kind, and volume 1 sets up the story of his search for answers as to his heritage and his purpose for the future.

This is, so far at any rate, a simple story, and highly violent in places, but that is not why you will read this comic, written and drawn by Michael S Bracco. The main reason you will want to own and look at this comic again and again is the beautiful black and white art, reminiscent almost of old fairytale woodcut bookplates in their style. I must admit that I found the cover and the occasional coloured/shaded page in the book a lot less appealing as the colour detracted from the wonderful line work of the drawings. I was transfixed by the amount of emotion that the large limpid eyes of NOVO could convey, even in the panels with no words. On the subject of the layout, none of the panels have ruler straight edges and the lettering is noticeably hand-done but this just adds to the overall charm of the creator's style. Now that NOVO has set off on his quest for truth, I’ll go looking too, to find the next volume in the series and continue his tale with him.

Now you must forgive me an indulgence because I can't help but share with you ALL of the preview art that Alterna shared with us for this gorgeous book.