Canto III: Lionhearted #2

Canto III: Lionhearted #2

IDW Publishing 2021

Written by David M. Booher

Illustrated by Drw Zucker

Coloured by Vittorio Astone

Lettered by Andworld Design

The clockwork knight and his old friend, the warrior Aulaura, are in search of allies in their coming war against the Shrouded Man. Possibly the greatest allies they could hope for are Canto’s former slavers, but before they can attempt to build bridges and combine their efforts, they must be found! And the only one who knows where they may be is on the other side of a Kraken! Join the latest adventure in the Canto-verse that Major Spoilers called “a quest story to savor.”

This really is one of the best franchises that has come out in my lifetime. Canto just entertains, engages and is just endearing and that everyone who reads his adventures falls in love with him should come as no surprise. His adventures are epic as he makes friends from all these different species and walks of life and you can feel his power as a leader throughout all of this. This time around he’s only with Aulaura, I’m still waiting for the giants to come back, and they are searching their departed friend’s, the Hermit, home. I gotta say a squatter got there awfully quick all things considered and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented perfectly. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a magnificent job making them feel like real people. The pacing here is fantastic and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story and meeting a new character leaves us a little wiser.

I greatly appreciate the way that this is structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I love how we see the characterisation, the plot twists and yes even this new character Iggle is a true find and how all of these add depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am such a huge fan of the interior artwork here. The linework is so clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail work we see throughout is astounding. The backgrounds we see utilised throughout makes me a happy camper as they expand and enhance the moments and work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the story being utilised to create the shading highlights and shadow work shows such an understanding of how colour works and how to maximise its effect.

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Each arc is only a part of Canto’s journey and the more we see the more we want to see. There will come a time when this journey to save his love and to vanquish the shrouded man will come to pass but I’m hoping that isn’t going to be for quite some time to come yet. Canto is the most original, endearing and charming little fellow to have graced us with his presence in many many years. The writing is spectacular and the characterisation is witty and informative plus there are these stunning interiors bringing it all to life. It’s no wonder this continues to make my top lists time and time again.