Zeb Larson reviews Tooth and Claw #1…
MARVELS and ASTRO CITY writer KURT BUSIEK returns to Image Comics with rising-star artist BEN DEWEY for an all-new ONGOING SERIES! Conan meets Game of Thrones meets Kamandi in an original high-fantasy epic for mature readers, as a secret conclave of wizards brings a legendary champion back through time to save the world, with disastrous consequences. The action begins in a spectacular DOUBLE-SIZED FIRST ISSUE, with forty-four pages of story with no ads for the regular price of just $2.99!
Tooth and Claw is a book aspiring to be the latest epic fantasy series, and it captures a number of elements that make the genre work: high magic, an alien-but-not-too-alien world, and a potentially earth-shattering problem. This first issue sells the reader on the basic premise of the series, which ought to keep this series going. Subsequent issues will have to sell us on the characters, which as are yet are not particularly fleshed out.
In an unnamed world, anthropomorphic animals have built elaborate civilizations using magic. Yet magic is failing, and one wizard has a bold plan to try and resuscitate magic. An unnamed and unknown champion millennia ago opened the gateway to magic, and a coterie of wizards plans to bring him into the present, despite warnings from other mages that such an attempt would be a disaster. Through the eyes of Dunstan, a young dog, we see the wizards attempt to save their world, and the aftermath from what comes through the portal that they create.
The fantasy here is reminiscent here of a few different sources: R.E. Howard’s Conan, Kamandi, even Dungeons & Dragons with the names of all of the spells. Image Comics list Game of Thrones as a related material, but comparing Tooth and Claw to Game of Thrones feels more like an attempt wander in stray readers than anything else. Game of Thrones is intensely geopolitical and feels grounded in the politics of our Middle Ages; even the fantasy elements in GoT have usually taken a backseat to the politics. Here, magic is literally everywhere, present even in the walking and talking animals, and at least as yet, there are only vague suggestions of factions and maneuvering.
Overall, this is an interesting comic book. The bulk of this issue is set-up and context for the world, which Busiek and Ben Dewey use to leisurely introduce the story. The extra-long format of this issue favors showing off the artwork, which for lack of a better term is a sort of Magic Steampunk. There are nicely detailed flying cities, a variety of outlandish costumes for the animals, and some especially vivid coloring when magic is being used.
The only frustrating thing in this book is waiting for the reveal that the champion is human. It’s obvious from the artwork and even the allusion to Kamandi who the champion is going to be, and we’re just going to have to wait for the revelation to hit everybody. The length of the book is a bit long considering how much of the narrative is just set-up, but in the long run, the attention paid to developing the context of the story will work out for the best.
Zeb Larson
Originally published November 6, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
