The Hedge Knight #2
Originally Presented at Comixtreme.com.
Quick Rating: Very Good
Dunk gets the money he needs to enter the tournament, but finds another obstacle in his path.
Writers: George R.R. Martin and 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), Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell (cover b)
Publisher: Image/Roaring Studios
Review: It’s hard to tell how hands-on George R.R. Martin is with this title, as it is an adaptation of his novella from Silverberg’s 1998 Legends anthology, but together he and Ben Avery have taken a solid fantasy book and created one of the best fantasy comics in some time.
Dunk, the squire who buried his master at the beginning of the first issue, has made his way to the tourney where he hopes to prove his worth as a knight, while trying to hide the fact that the late Ser Arlen never actually knighted him. He finds himself with his own squire, the boy Egg, and spends most of this issue trying to get the money and status he needs to compete.
The “self-declared sidekick” storyline isn’t new to this or any other comic book (lest we forget how Tim Drake became the third Robin), and this issue, save for one scene, is pretty low on action sequences, but it comes across as a really good portrait of the world that Dunk lives in and the rituals he has to go through to become a man. It also sets up a fairly major obstacle, as well as places many potential friends and enemies on the playing board. The dialogue is sharp - a combination of Avery’s skill and the dialogue Martin wrote in the original novella - and although some comics these days are shying away from using the protagonist as a narrator, it works here.
Miller’s artwork really stands out here. It brings to mind the strengths of Paul Pelletier at his best on Flash and Negation. It tells the story smoothly and effectively, and it’s nice and clean, without relying on excessive details to cover up flaws the way some artists do. The night scenes, in particular, come across well, no doubt thanks to the contributions of Lynx Studio on the colors. I was particularly impressed with the page with the purple lightning - beautiful stuff.
A few pages (in my copy at least) came out sort of blurry, but it looks like an error with the printing rather than an error on the part of the artists. It only hurts the book a little, but with the announcement that Roaring Studios is following the lead of Devil’s Due and leaving Image, it makes you worry about more such problems in the future.
It’s a good comic, one that seems to be finding an audience. It will be interesting to see whether the people who pick it up will follow the story to A Song of Ice and Fire, the series of novels that the novella served as a prelude to.
Rating: 4/5
NOTE: "Roaring Studios," the studio that put out this series, later turned into DB Pro, and then changed again into Dabel Brothers, and it is as Dabel Brothers that I've tagged them for search purposes.