A Graphic Novel by by Jérémy

I love a good, original fantasy story and Vesper Vol 1 – The Amazon by Jérémy isn’t your typical fantasy comic. While it doesn’t break too much ground with the story itself, the overall presentation in this comic is where it stands out. Creatures are amazing and imaginative – I was almost reminded of films like The Dark Crystal when seeing all manner of fantastic beasts from page to page. The artwork itself is absolutely gorgeous, almost having a style somewhere in-between the likes of Yoshitaka Amano and Boris Vallejo. I was mostly excited to see his use of color as opposed to the typical modern fantasy story all told in various shades of brown and gray.

“Vesper, the Amazon of the Knights of Nyx, is a formidable warrior versed in the practice of Etheric magic. She uses her talents in the service of Prince Crimson Nyx, with whom she shares the dream of a kingdom where people of all races can live together. But in the midst of celebrating an important victory for their kingdom, the two heroes are ambushed by the Ekklesia, a religious order that sees in them the manifestation of dark forces that must be stamped out… A fast-paced first entry of a thrilling fantasy series not to be missed.”

If you are a fan of Game of Thrones or The Witcher, I’d say you’d be at home here, as Vesper seems to be somewhat inspired by both although settling on much more of a “high fantasy” setting than either. It’s honestly the best of both worlds, as you get all of the fantastic scenery and crazy creatures of a lighter fantasy setting with all the court intrigue and back-stabbing of the modern fantasy taste in 2022. Vesper is a strong female protagonist in the same cloth as someone like Red Sonja, although she doesn’t merely exist as a sexual object like large broad swath of such characters tend to be. If anything her lover Prince Crimson Nyx is more vulnerable and gratuitously posed than she.

Fair warning, this book is NOT for the kiddos. It contains depictions of murder, torture, attempted rape, and is quite gory at times. That said, none of this is very gratuitous, but I wanted to extend a bit of cation. If you aren’t bothered by that, it’s just enough “adult” to stay exciting and unpredictable without turning into something more sinister.

This book ends on a COLOSSAL cliffhanger, so I really can’t wait for it to continue on at some point. It will be interesting to see how Vesper fares against an entire conspiracy to use her as a pawn for a nasty landgrab, and whether the reason for her fighting is even still alive by the time she gets there. Europe Comics has chosen a number of great fantasy comics this past year, with The Lost Ages and Thorgal coming to mind. With my love of the European comic style, they are easily one of the best digital publishers out there!

If you are interested in a copy of this book, click HERE

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.