Elves Vol I: Crystal of the Blue Elves By Jean Luc Istan Art by Kyko Duarte

Elves Vol I: Crystal of the Blue Elves

By Jean Luc Istan

Art by Kyko Duarte

Elves, a French fantasy comic published by Delcourt, is set in the same world as Dwarves. This volume was written by Jean Istan, a screenwriter, comic book author, and designer who was born in August of 1970 in Pontivy. The lead artist is Kyko Duarte who was born in Spain in 1975 and started out in advertising before branching into the world of comics. But let's turn to the comic. Elves is set in the same world as the Dwarves series but focuses instead on the Elvish peoples. The Elves are of this world are immortal beings unless killed by violence or accident and are highly varied, as they have spread out to a number of environments. There are 19 graphic novels in the series at the time of this review, each one focused on a specific group of Elves.

Crystal of the Blue Elves is a story of the Blue Elves, unsurprisingly. We would call them Sea Elves I think, because they live near the water and have a strong affinity for water and water magic. They are also a very calming shade of blue. The story itself is divided between two plot lines which intersect toward the end. The first plot revolves around the discovery, by a Blue Elf adventureress named Lanawyn and her human friend Turin, that all the Elves of Ennlya, a small port town have been savagely murdered. Among the dead a dagger of Yrlan is found, the Yrland are a group of humans whose King, named Rinn, hates the Blue Elves because they have the audacity to refuse him fishing and sailing rights in certain areas. However, while the Yrlan are a war like bunch and likely good fighters, it does seem strange that they could massacre an entire town of Blue Elves with no witnesses and leave behind a single dagger. Not to mention this is out of character for them, as they tend to look down on stealth tactics and prefer open warfare. Lanawyn and Turin find themselves charged by the King of the Blue Elves Aamon to figure out exactly what happened to the elves of Ennlya as inconsistencies mount and King Rinn of the Yrlan readies to take an opportunity for war and genocide. Luckily Lanawyn is an intelligent Elf and Turin has friends everywhere, they're going to need every scrap of wits and favor that friendship can call in to solve this and fast.

Meanwhile Vaalann, a young Blue Elf lady, finds she might have a storied fate in front of her. Long ago Ulronn, an Elf Mage, used unknown magical means to create three crystals. Each crystal has a unique but terrifying power. In fact, the creation of the Crystals drove him mad and he became a Dark Elf. Rather then give up the crystals or use them responsibly, Ulronn used them to try and (all together folks) conquer the world! A Blue Elf mage played a key part in defeating him so the crystal with the power to control the ocean (yes, the entire thing) was given to the Blue Elves. Worried about the corrupting power of such a powerful artifact, the Blue Elves hid it on the floor of the ocean and convinced a race of sea monsters known as the Myst to guard it. The Myst have the ability to look into the soul of anyone who approaches them, if that person's soul has anything but a desire to use the crystal peacefully and for good, the Myst drown them. A number of Blue Elves have risked their immortal lives because there is a belief that one day a chosen Elf will rise to use the power of the crystal and craft a golden age. Vaalann believes she just might be that chosen Elf but is she or just another in a long line of folks who've let their ego write a check they can't cash? The Blue Elves will need an answer soon, as they may find themselves in a war that if they lose will see the extinction of their race. So they might just need to resort to using the ocean as a weapon to stay alive.

The graphic novel gives us a pair of stories that are rather separate until the very end of the novel and frankly in my opinion the graphic novel suffers for it. The story has about fifty pages and as a result can't really devote enough time to really get into either plot line. So both stories feel like they're moving incredibly quickly, has such we know a lot less about Turin and Lanawyn then I would like and Vaalann feels a bit like a plot device. Additionally, there's a twist ending that just didn't feel satisfying. The story itself is a rather solid one and the characters are fairly likable and not uninteresting but they need more time and development to pull in the reader in my opinion. Additionally I didn't really get a sense of Blue Elf Culture or their beliefs. They seem to use water magic for a wide variety of things, foretelling the future for example but other than that? When I read Redwin of the forge, I got a good overview of a living breathing culture with Redwin as it's representative. Here I'm not sure how the Blue Elves live, how their culture functions or what they hold important beyond the sea itself. Nor am I left with an understanding of any of the characters, or what they're doing when they're not trying to prevent unnecessary wars. So I'm left with a mild interest in the Blue Elves and in the characters but not much else. That said, the art is amazing in this comic and I do get the sense that if given the proper space to tell this story that it would be a good one. So I have to say I think this fell victim to the page count, so I'll have to hold it as an example of remembering to match your story ambitions to your space. I am hopeful as I go further into the series though that I will see an improvement. From what I understand Elves was the first series so it would make sense that Dwarves benefited from it's lessons. All in all Elves Vol I by Jean Luc Istan and Kyko Duarte gets a C- from me. It's not awful but it's not anything I can honestly recommend either.

Next week, we kick off a month of looking at books that deal with World War II and its repercussions. So join me for Maus Part I. Additionally, coming in August will be Solarpunk month, if you have a solarpunk book you'd like me to review please leave a recommendation. If you have no clue what Solarpunk is? Don't worry you will by the end of August. Keep Reading!