Broken Frontier

Unsurprisingly, the Persian prince is the flavour of the month, thanks to the new cinematic adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The screenplay is co-written by Jordan Mechner, who created the original game that the film is based on. Disney Press also released a tie-in anthology, which Mechner wrote all the short tales for, and which Dynamite is now oddly releasing as four individual issues. Okay then. Just to add to the mix is this OGN from First Second, which is not written by Mechner but does feature art by his collaborators on his first OGN, Solomon’s Thieves. Phew.

This offering (a re-issue) has little to do with the Prince as most will know him from the games and film. In fact, it would work just as well without his association, as this story features almost none of the adventurous acrobatics and action featured in the games. This, as like most of First Second’s books, is a more off-centre tale with almost a European sensibility, rather than a linear format of storytelling. For those wanting to know more of the Prince’s world as they know it, Disney’s anthology is the place to go. This is something different entirely, and more closely resembles an unmade film by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) with its tale of romance, siblings, royalty, and peasants.

It’s a book that requires attention, as two stories over two different centuries (the 9th and 13th) are being told, but thankfully, the characters appear different enough. Both stories feature princes of Persia, despite the title alluding to a singular prince, and considering this book was originally released in 2008, this will definitely throw some off hoping to see the screen incarnation in these pages. Truthfully, this resembles the approach of an indie film rather than anything resembling a Hollywood blockbuster. I’ve played three Prince of Persia games over the recent years and largely enjoyed them, thanks to Mechner’s skilful weaving of drama and action. The games created a rich world brimming with fantasy and adventure, but any sand monsters and time travel are pretty much forgotten here, although vengeful and creepy sand babies do show up, and prophecies via near death experiences do occur. There’s also a peacock called Turul who speaks like Yoda and the ever present symbolism of water. As you can tell, it’s not what most, including myself, will open the book expecting to discover and that’s the biggest disappointment. PoP has been built as a franchise in the last decade and to give the curious public something like this that is so different to the status quo will be most jarring. I applaud Mechner and write A.B. Sina’s efforts for attempting something audacious and risky, but a more linear approach with a greater storytelling focus would have helped immensely and made the book more approachable.

Artists LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland, who worked on Mechner’s far superior Solomon’s Thieves OGN provide an immersive Arabian Nights-like environment in which the many characters live, die, fight and love, but I doubt it will be enough to hook the average reader for all of its 208 pages.