A review by emeraldreviews
Honor and Curse by Mark London

5.0

Wow, where do I start? I have always been incredibly interested in the history of the far east, like the three kingdoms dynasty of China and of course the Japanese feudal period. As soon as I saw this cover, I was totally invested. I didn’t even need to read the plot. Imagine my delight when I discovered the entire premise of the story to be entirely captivating. Mark London has a superb ability to engross me from the first panels of the story. Backed up by beautifully crafted artwork from Nicolas Salamanca & Tekino, I was prepared to have the most fantastical journey through a stunning period of Japanese history.

Genshi as a character was so well written. The effective character development and detailed artwork helped build the character as a struggling shinobi with what seemed to be a deep primordial power inside. The struggle between light and dark is abundant throughout and at no point was I totally confident in what was going to happen, in most cases, the total opposite of what I thought would happen... happened. This is testament to the absorbing story and world created by Mark and the team. A world that encapsulates all that I want from a fantasy story based on historical elements.

Nicolas Salamanca & Tekino’s art is honestly some of the best I have seen. The highlights of the entire comic for me is the feud between Genshi and his demon. The combative artwork is mesmerising, the variations in the look of Genshi and the environment around him is testament to the skill of the artists.

The continuation of Honor & Curse promises, for me, to go down as a classic. I so thoroughly enjoyed this. Quite simply it is one of my favourite stories around at the moment and promises to continue my growing love affair with the works of the Mad Cave Studios team.

“Good. You’re awake. I thought the Tengu had taken over.” - Master Nishiro