Broken Frontier

In the penultimate issue of this mini-series things naturally heat up. In the first two issues young Aaron Chiang discovered that he was more than merely a lowly nerd. Thanks to his mother finally revealing the truth, he discovered that he was the last in a long line of dragons. Being able to turn green, spew fire and fly may seem like cool additions to puberty but Aaron also discovered that there are drawbacks, such as an ancient army of Magi whose goal is to destroy all of the powerful winged creatures, and they’ve had a pretty good track record thus far.

Here things kick off with Aaron and his mother held captive in a vast mountaintop medieval castle resembling a set from an Indiana Jones film. Both use their magical abilities to attempt an escape but fail, resulting in the pair being separated. As Aaron’s mother, April, remains chained to the wall alone in a cell, her son is given what amounts to a tour of the premises. The bulky dragon hunter explains to Aaron the origin of his kind, as servants to the Magi who are given their powers by ritual tattooing from dragon blood, ironically enough.

The conversation seems rather easy going for a warrior who is trying to kill his captive. It appears to be more a conversation two friendly strangers would have at the bus stop, rather than in the midst of a life and death adventure, especially considering the warrior openly admits being the captor of Aaron’s father. There’s still one issue left in this series, so perhaps the reason for such ambivalence will be explained next month.

Aaron soon meets Madigan, the Magi’s leader, who as is to be expected is old and wears robes. However, as Aaron notes he expected someone Chinese, not the Brit standing before him. Marz writes Aaron well and is aware of his age. He treats him as a realistic child, with a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. Rather than being fearful of the strangers revealing fantastic locales and secret tales, he seems to be genuinely interested with a hunger to find out more, as any kid would be. He thinks about his mother, and his stomach, and it seems a natural extension of the character in such circumstances.

The Magi leader explains to Aaron that they use dragon’s blood for their magic. Again, the irony is evident only to the reader. The Magi hate dragons and exist to destroy them, but recognise that they are magical beasts who give the Magi their power. What a vicious circle. All this exposition doesn’t seem forced though and Marz’s dialogue is a natural fit. Aaron becomes the object of emotional manipulation by the Magi, who obviously has his own plans for the child. Aaron attempts another escape and transforms into dragon, and is a lot more successful than his first try. He is soon reunited with his mother, who reveals a few more magical tricks of her own and the pair look like they might just break free. The last page ends on a cliffhanger involving Aaron’s relatives and will surely be the focus of the last issue.

Moder’s artwork is pure, and in places reminded me of one of my favourite Batman pencillers Graham Nolan in its fluid realism. There’s a great uniformity in his figure work and expressions and it’s just as easy to follow as the story, making this the real all-ages book it claims to be. When Aaron transforms into his dragon self, it still resembles him, rather than some unrealistic looking behemoth, and his representations of April’s magical forces could be something straight out of an Ethan Van Sciver Green Lantern book. Marz and Moder present an uncluttered, but not simple, vision, working in perfect tandem to tell an easily captivating tale.

So far this series has been a nice change of pace in a market full of convoluted epics and Marz shows again, like he has with Green Lantern and Witchblade, that simple, but powerful supernatural adventures are his forte.