The Hedge Knight #4
Originally presented at Comixtreme.com on March 13, 2004.
Quick Rating: Very Good
Ser Dunk steps to Tanselle’s defense… but what will the consequence be?
Writers: George R.R. Martin & Ben Avery
Pencils: Mike S. Miller
Inks: Mike Crowell
Colors: Lynx Studio
Letters: Bill Tortolini
Editor: Robert Silverberg
Cover Art: Mike S. Miller (Cover A); Tom Yeates (Cover B)
Publisher: Devil’s Due/DB Pro
Review: After a five-month gap between Hedge Knight #2 and #3, this issue comes out after only a couple of weeks. Also, Roaring Studios jumps ship from Image Comics, changes its name to DB Pro and lands with another company that recently left the big “I,” Devil’s Due. Fortunately, you don’t need to know any of that to understand the story, which is still quite good.
Dunk is awaiting the next day of the great tournament and pondering who to challenge in combat when his squire, Egg, tells him the puppeteer his is smitten with is being attacked by none other than Prince Aerion. Dunk’s heart overtakes his head and he winds up in serious trouble. George R.R. Martin and Ben Avery start throwing in some great twists in this issue that most readers won’t see coming (unless, like myself, they read the novella this miniseries is adapting), and we see real compassion and heroism out of Dunk. In the relatively short time since the beginning of this series (for the characters, I mean), he has evolved a great deal as a character.
I’m going to keep saying how great an artist Mike S. Miller is until comic book companies start fighting over him like he deserves. Unlike so many artists, he finds ways to give each major character a distinctive face of his or her own, setting them apart from each other. The only flaw, artwise, in the entire issue is a bit of awkward layout on the second-to-last page where the panels don’t quite flow in the proper direction - the reader doesn’t know that he’ll have to backtrack and the conversation suddenly stops making sense because you’re reading the panels in the wrong order. For someone usually so good at storytelling, I was surprised at the flaw.
Lynx Studio, as usual, is incredibly strong in the coloring department - deep reds for the sunset scenes, blues and blacks at night, brown for the flashback sequences and dancing flame effects - every page of this comic looks beautiful, not to mention a fantastic cover by Miller that shows skill at painting as well. (I mean to slight to the alternate cover by Tom Yeates, I just haven’t seen it.)
Fans of fantasy and Martin should be checking out this series. A collected edition of issues 1-3 just came out, so it’s easy to jump on board for the last three issues. With CrossGen pulling the plug on Meridian and Scion, this is one of the best fantasy comics on the market.
Rating: 8/10