Runewood Abbey
I often make it a point to wait until a comic has been updating for a while before I consider reviewing it (especially as almost every time I’ve done a write-up on a brand new webcomic, the comic in question will succumb to terminal hiatus). Waiting for the archives to grow to critical mass also gives the comic a chance to grow a little, and the story itself to emerge. This does not always work; cartoonists sometimes forget the importance of pacing in telling their story, and overlong prologues can muddy the water on just what the webcomic’s story is. If the reader doesn't have a general idea of who or what the comic is about in the first twenty pages, the cartoonist risks losing the reader (no matter how pretty the art).
This initially appears to be the situation with Runewood Abbey; if there is a larger story to the comic, it isn’t revealed in the comic’s first chapter. But rather than some epic storyline, Runewoold Abbey appears to be a character-driven comic that has focused on the six young women we are initially introduced to in the first chapter (along with three others who've yet to appear). Each woman is... for want of a better term, unique; one is as ethereal as smoke, another composed of solid living shadows, a third of flame, and so on. Even the more ordinary-looking of the young women possess talents that set them apart from normal people, and would undoubtedly have them persecuted as witches or worse in the comic’s preindustrial setting.
It is these young woman that have brought Runewood Abbey to life. The interaction between these characters feels natural and helps the reader relate to them. Given the dearth of a greater plot, this connection with the characters gains greater importance; little has been shown concerning who these women are, why they are at the Abbey, and what has made them the way they are. The Abbey itself is another mystery which was expanded upon slightly at the end of the first chapter, but the few details given have only led to added questions.
Even with the dearth of plot details, the comic stands out with some beautiful artwork and excellently-rendered greyscale. Artist Michael Brewster has taken considerable care and effort in creating characters who are as distinct and interesting artistically as writer Rachel Spitler has done with characterization and dialogue. Nor is this artistic effort left only for the characters; background details are not always added (especially when the cast is found inside a building lit only by firelight), but when the story moves outside the walls of the Abbey, Brewster’s skills at drawing detailed backgrounds is revealed.
While the story is yet young, a couple hints of a greater story can be observed. At least one of the young women, Nansa, was apparently once a normal human instead of a Naga (half-woman, half serpent), and had a fairly normal life before she was transformed into her current state. While we’ve not caught any real glimpses of the stories of the other women at the abbey, it is more than likely that they too were once “normal” (or at least, not inhuman). No doubt in time more of the greater story will be revealed, even as the cast are further fleshed out. In the meantime, Runewood Abbey is at the perfect stage for new readers to jump in without needing days to peruse the archives, and the comic has enough promise to keep them returning weekly for more.