Delivering a message without relying on text to get the point across is no small feat. It requires an understanding of visual storytelling that values body language, worldbuilding, and tone as crucial tools that help shape the direction of the narrative.
Scottish comics creator and character designer Norrie Millar is well aware of this, and he showcases his ability to bend those components to his will in his new comic It Flows Down From the Hill, a dark sci-fi tale that leans gothic to tell a story about harsh life lessons and the terrors we must confront to accept them.
The comic follows Lok, a sword-wielding man in a hostile world filled with living structures and giant eyes. We see him figuratively confront himself during three decisive moments in his life. Each one deals with a particular state of being, colored by either trauma, anger, or guilt. There are layers of meaning in each moment, though. No emotional paint-by-numbers here. Attention to detail and a willingness to engage with Millar’s world is a necessity.
Millar keeps the text to a minimum. Instead, we get wide vistas of the unwelcoming world Lok inhabits along with the strange beings that exist in it. Isolation becomes a big theme here, fed by the vastness of the spaces illustrated in each panel. Outside locations feature blackened bones jutting out from the ground, surrounded by desert-like terrain. It works to further dig into that deep sense of loneliness that accompanies Lok as he deals with his emotions.
Whenever Lok approaches a larger structure or is inside a massive castle-like place, the story enters the realm of the gothic. But it’s not merely aesthetic. Millar uses this style to add an oppressive element to Lok’s journey. It reflects the character’s inner turmoil while also commenting on how the surroundings themselves can work as an antagonistic force as well.
This is perhaps the most striking and lasting impression It Flows Down leaves readers with. It offers character development via worldbuilding in its rawest form. This approach extends to the more abject horror elements of the story, too. Lok is met with grandiose expressions of terror on all sides, and they point to the different stages of hardship he must face before emerging a more capable and mature man.
One particular sequence sees a series of smokestacks that look like pained faces screaming out into the air, as if to accentuate the overbearing atmosphere of the setting. It adds a layer of existential torment to the character’s experience, opening up yet another door from which readers can enter to further explore the themes on display.
Despite the heaviness of the narrative, Millar finds ways to keep the reading from being a mere exercise in suffering. His use of colors shines, with opaque yellows and stark reds combining for some impressive sci-fi imagery. It manages to capture of sense of wonder that stokes the imagination as to the unseen parts of the world.
Even the more oppressive elements of the story invite careful study. Eyes encased in spiked domes and long stretches of cylindrical formations are constant and take different forms throughout. Add to this Millar’s excellent use of hand-drawn sound effects, which give certain beats an unmistakable sonic identity, and you’ve got a comic that will settle for nothing less than drawing the reader in fully so they can live, feel, and hear the things Lok is up against.
It Flows Down From the Hill is an amazing example of what visual storytelling can do when it lets worldbuilding impact character development so intently. Millar knows how to justify not using text to get a message across. He relies on his ability to convey emotion using body language and environmental cues to foster complexity. As such, he offers a tale that reminds readers that life is full of horrors and that they need to be met and acknowledged within ourselves should we hope to survive them. Carrying a sword while doing so doesn’t hurt either.
You can purchase the digital comic here.
