Broken Frontier

For a webcomic that has been languishing within the lives and the settings of its characters, The Phoenix Requiem has taken an awful lot of twists and turns in the last week or so. Part of it I predicted and part of it is further from anything I could have ever seen coming in the course of this webcomic.

As I mentioned last time, The Phoenix Requiem had young nurse Anya taking a break from tending to comatose stranger Jonas Faulkner, as well as a soldier felled by a mysterious ailment. After she returns from spending a couple hours in town with her friend Petria, she finds two shocking developments: one, as I figured, Jonas is finally awake (almost eighty pages later), and two, out of the blue, the soldier is dead and reduced to a bloody carcass straight out of Cabin Fever.

It's Ellerton’s use of blood and gore that is particularly jarring in this instance. Up until now, the village atmosphere has seemed safe from virtually any kind of threatening intrusions, violent or otherwise. And though there are prior mentions of the dim state of magic, none of them are as ominous, or grisly, as the sight of the soldier’s corpse, all of which transpired in the span of a couple hours.

Of course, the other part of the equation is not only Jonas Faulkner’s awakening, but also his truly unfazed reaction. The intrigue is further reinforced by the fact that Jonas is still missing his shoes for some reason, mirroring his dream situation. Overall, I’m really intrigued to see what this new character brings not only to the plot – which is taking off in a strange new direction – but also to the pre-existing dynamics between Anya, Robyn and Petria. The Phoenix Requiem’s updates have grown more solid and meaningful with each part. I have to believe there’s even more looming on the horizon.

Speaking of right directions, Least I Could Do continues to an interesting angle this week, as John and Rayne confront one another. Though the kid Rayne story was brief, unless there are further flashbacks to come, the pathos remains in play as the two friends start to grill one another. Tensions definitely seem to be running high as Rayne, seemingly devoid of puns and snappy comebacks, seriously lays it into John.

Both The Phoenix Requiem and Least I Could Do are webcomics you have to watch carefully. Their content may seem standard genre fare one minute – but watch out – if you’re not careful, you might just find the entire premise turned on its ear in the span of a day or two.