Seriously, find yourself a nice, cozy nook, make sure you won’t be interrupted for a while (30 minutes read time, much more after that to decompress) and read the new comic by Gigi D.G. (Cucumber Quest) hosted on itch.io.
Lady of the Shard follows the story of an Acolyte in the service of a temple devoted to worshipping a slumbering Goddess. Frankly, it’s not worth going into much more detail than that, but it’s a tremendous comic. Each chapter is a single vertical scroll, the sequences stacking and forming seamlessly to tell the next step of the Acolyte’s story without missing a beat. Seriously, it’s a masterpiece.
Unlike the luscious and rich color palettes seen in Gigi’s ongoing Cucumber Quest comic, Lady of the Shard very deliberately limits itself to only two or three colors at a time – carefully delineating the context for each, a beautiful and trusting way to guide the reader along with the Acolyte. Cucumber Quest has always utilized a variety of styles to accentuate the current arc, the closest comparison I can make is that the sparse lines in contrasting colors feels like a continuation of the kind of art displayed in the Rose Master arc, but narratively Lady of the Shard is something else entirely.
I won’t say anymore, this just needs to be read. Be sure to full-screen the comic to get the full experience and donate a little cash afterwards because believe you me, it more than deserves it.
About the comic:
Lady of the Shard is a comic about an acolyte in love with the goddess she serves.
Content warnings [spoilers, potentially]: This comic contains some body horror imagery and sexualized situations involving a manipulative, domineering character.
This was one of the best uses of digital sequential art I’ve ever seen.
Thanks, well worth my lunchtime read!
That was kind of silly. :/ Feels like it was written for Tumblr kiddies who never stop shipping every character with every other character.
Roto13 if you choose to limit your enjoyment of something on whether or not it was made for “tumblr kiddies” I’m afraid you’re the only silly one around here.
I kind of agree with Roto13. Maybe I’m disappointed because I’ve heard only praise about Lady of the Shard and my expectations got the better of me. I think the art is very good and effective and atmospheric and I like the fact that all characters are female. But these characters are all onedimensional manga stereotypes.
*SPOILERS* The Acolyte is the cliched, cutesy genki girl protagonist, we never get to know the goddess’ personality and it turns out the villain only needed Love. Why does the Acolyte love the Goddess so deeply? Because of the stories she heard about her and because her statues look pretty. That’s it. Even when the goddess physically enters the story, there is minimal interaction between the two. They don’t know each other. I have no idea why the goddess loves the Acolyte, other than the fact that’s she’s loved by her. It never feels like love, it feels like infatuation. And that’s just not compelling motivation for me.
Maybe if I stumbled upon this story on my own I would’ve liked it better, but as it is it just seems a little slight to me.
Comments are closed.