Eye of Newt #1
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The good
The artwork is exceptional and perfectly captures the fantasy world created. Intriguing story where everything isn't black and white
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The bad
Story transitions from one point to another with no explanation how it got there ruining t=he immersion in scenes. Descriptions of some scenes limit the imagination at times
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The ugly
- Total score
The Eye of Newt #1 is a new series written and illustrated by Michael Hague and published by Dark Horse Comics. It features a young wizard’s apprentice, Newt, who has the propensity for daydreaming, as he prepares for the most dangerous trial he’ll ever face. It opens up with his master explaining to him that in a week’s time his trial will begin, and since he’s the youngest apprentice to ever be called, his master believes dark forces are responsible for it. Since he can’t stop the trial he does the next best thing, which is try to prepare his young apprentice by leading him to the door to the Netherworld so he could retrieve a powerful headpiece for his staff. For the first time, the young apprentice is seeing many things that he only imagined before, including a real dragon, but he can’t be distracted in the Netherworlds or risk being lost forever. Perhaps he’ll also have to make the tough decision to kill in order to survive since there are powerful forces at work. And so the young apprentice’s journey begins but everything isn’t as it seems as dark forces can come from surprising places.
Visually, the Eye of Newt is beautiful and the artwork by Michael Hague is perfect for a magical world where anything is possible, and just like the young apprentice, it urges your mind to get lost in its boundless wonders. So it’s easy to get wrapped up in the story early on as the master leads Newt to the door, and slowly gaining the understanding that things are treacherous beneath the surface is all part of the experience. A problem arises as they get closer to the door as the issue teeters on information overload, and that’s not completely due to the master’s exposition, which was helpful in establishing a context for the events, but the introduction of elements or characters in a manner that makes you pause and wonder how things got to that point. For example, Newt encounters a creature when attempting to leave the Netherworld without showing his actual entry or what he did there. There are a few other occasions where we just see the result of an event or are introduced to characters without any context. So the latter part of the issue doesn’t flow as smoothly as it does when setting up the premise, and when descriptions are added to panels that are already beautifully informative it just feels like a restriction on the imagination similar to Newt’s master wanting to confine the imagination. It takes away from being able to just sit back and marvel at the detail. If anything, it would’ve been better, in my opinion, to describe events not shown or brief connections to characters introduced instead of describing the scenery. Yes, it works exceptionally well in the case of using the soaring eagle as a metaphor for the master’s focus but not when a lot of events are occurring. It’s unfortunate too because beneath it all is a very interesting story that even raises the question of whether or not dark forces were behind the young apprentice being called to trial or if the young apprentice was called due to dark forces already being at work. Either way I’m looking forward the next issue.
SUMMARY
The Eye of Newt #1 is an uneven start to an interesting series as the strong grip of the visually stunning artwork would have on the reader is weakened by the confusing way the story transitions from one sequence of events to the next. The story is effective in setting up what’s at stake while creating an air of suspense regarding Newt’s calling and his importance in upcoming events and so I’m satisfied with that and the world created by Michael Hague. Maybe the second issue will improve in smoothing out the transitions so the immersion isn’t lost since a lot was introduced in this issue but the story is intriguing enough to make me look forward to the next issue.
Release Date: 6/18/14
Writer: Michael Hague
Artist: Michael Hague
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