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• Price: $4.99
• Pages: 32
• On Sale: March 7, 2018
• Writer: Mike Carey
  
• Artist: Peter Gross
  
• Colorist: Fabien Alquier
• Cover Artist: Yuko Shimizu
• Publisher: IDW

From the Publisher – The creators behind The Unwritten, Mike Carey and Peter Gross, invite you into The Highest House, the story of a slave boy named Moth, who makes friends with a powerful entity called Obsidian that promises advancement and happiness. Clearly, Obsidian has a hidden agenda, but Moth has ambitions and plans of his own…

Our We Talk Comics WeView – The world of fantasy and magic offers up vast storytelling playgrounds. Having enjoyed both writer Mike Carey and artist Peter Gross before, it’s no surprise that The Highest House #1 is a beautiful book with plenty of interesting elements.

The Highest House #1 features a world called Ossaniul full of incredible depth. There are a vast amount of characters and many of them feature a subtle ambiguity beneath their exterior. It’s because of this that you can question their motives: Is the good person actually bad? Is the bad person actually good? We’ll have to keep reading to find out.

Moth is the main character and he’s quite young and not wise to this world. Therefore he makes a perfect guide for the reader as you both learn about this strange house he’s in together. The History of Ossaniul segments contained within the book also add a lot to the journey as they provide extra context while proving how deep the world is.

So… This book is absolutely gorgeous.

Peter Gross’ artwork is spectacular and thoroughly engaging. The characters are wonderfully rendered and his facial expressions have terrific depth which you’ll notice both if the characters have a lot of dialog or absolutely none at all. His buildings are superb and there’s a two-page spread that is not to be missed in the middle of the book.

The coloring uses muted, earthy tones. At first you may feel Fabien Alquier’s work looks simple but upon further inspection you realize the subtlety of the various shades on every panel. The colors and art fit very well together and match the mood of the story perfectly.

It must be hard to come up with such a broad and interesting world while containing it to one house, even if that happens to be a very large house. With so many different story directions possible, as well as characters to explore, the idea of being able to follow along monthly excites me. If you’re a fan of “The Unwritten” or of Fantasy/Magic stories then I think this is a book that you will absolutely enjoy. It’s certainly well worth the price for something this beautiful and it comes highly recommended.

Rating – Very Fine/Near Mint (VF/NM) or 9/10

Review by Brett

Love the review? Hate the review? Disagree with me? I’m happy to talk comics on twitter @Brett_WeTalk

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