Comic Book Review: Peripety Volume 1 by Sam Medlock (aka Mushkikizou-chan)
A young elf awakens with no memory. He has apparently been attacked, but it’s not clear by who or what. An elf girl named Sepa found him in the woods, and brought him to the cottage of herself and her healer brother Irelusuke (Relli to his friends.) They name him Leif, after a leaf-shaped birthmark on his collarbone. Four years later, though Leif has physically healed, his memories are still lost to him. He appreciates what his hosts have done for him, but still feels disconnected somehow.
Then strange things begin to happen. On a visit to the nearest city’s festival, Leif is gifted an elven sword by a Therian merchant who says he was “meant” to have it. Then he feels a compulsion to wander into the nearby dangerous and unnatural forbidden desert. Without the sword. Leif is attacked by a man, or is it a wolf?
The village is attacked by strangers, resulting in several deaths and the disappearance of Sepa. Leif himself is rescued by a blind hunter, and convinces the man to help him search for his lost friend.
This first volume of a mangaesque small press comic is heavy on the mysteries, and slim on explanations. Sepa’s chronic illness she had since childhood was miraculously cured just before she found Leif, for no apparent reason. Relli seems to know more about Leif’s past than he’s letting on, and definitely knows more about the nature of the desert strangers. What’s up with the sword? Why are the desert strangers interested in Sepa even more than they are in Leif? Is the blind man’s quest related to Leif’s issues, or is he actually just a random stranger? Who is Leif, anyhow?
The art is decent enough, but it feels that in the interest of piling on more mysteries, the creator skimped on important details to flesh out the setting and Leif’s character. There are at least some other villagers than the siblings, but Leif never interacts with them so we don’t get a feel for how he’s seen by the village. Nor do we really see how populated the village is, or what kind of layout it has. (The City of Ren gets a bit more detail during its brief appearance.) Does Leif just sit away from everyone else and carve wood all day every day?
A couple of pages at the end talk about the different kinds of elves in Diryo, which is apparently the name of the world. They honestly clear up nothing in the main story.
The creator is young, and apparently wrote the first version of this story when he was even younger, so there’s lots of room for growth.
