Posted in: Comics | Tagged: aftersock, backways, eleonora carlini, HRL, Justin Jordan, magic, occult

Backways #1 Review: Coyote Bones and Horse Skin

Sylvia, a young woman with interest in the mystic and the occult, mysteriously goes missing from her room. Her girlfriend, Anna, investigates. It isn't long before Anna comes into contact with the magic forces connected to Sylvia's disappearance, running across characters such as Coyote Bones and Skin Horse. She also finds the Backways and the kind of people who navigate it.

A lot of the polish and set-dressing is what comes to mind first with this comic. The detailing and language surrounding the mystical elements are all pretty cool. I like the visual design and even the names of Coyote Bones and Skin Horse. Coyote Bones especially has a cool appearance. The names of their powers like "knacks" and their use of "doodaws" are neat, and I dig the linguistic references to traditional Native American religion and mysticism.

Beyond that, the characters of Anna and Coyote Bones stand out. Anna is an impressively motivated and utterly unshakable protagonist thoroughly devoted to her girlfriend, Sylvia. Coyote Bones is a whimsical, sarcastic, and mysterious mystic warrior who looks very likely to steal the show that is this comic. Both are quite interesting and will likely carry this comic pretty far.

Anna's inability to be phased does have the drawback that not a whole lot of personality was shown from her in this issue, as most of her reactions are an apprehensive and annoyed "hrmm."

Skin Horse is a complete creep, and the comic is thankfully aware of how creepy he is. His insistence then forcing of Anna's smiling is treated with the disdain it deserves, culminated by him getting kicked a lot.

Eleonora Carlini's artwork is lively and detailed. Her characters are distinctive and expressive, and her overall body of work here is rock solid. This is a great-looking comic thanks to her and the colorwork of Silvia Tidei.

Backways #1 provides a compelling opening gambit for this mystical series. With promising characters, an interesting premise, and great artwork from a solid team, this comic is definitely worth checking out. I recommend it.

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