CASTLE WAITING VOL. II #7

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS
CARTOONIST: Linda Medley
24 pp., B&W, $3.95

Castle Waiting Vol. II #7 continues the delightful modern fairy tale comic book series by Linda Medley.  Chapter 7: During his search for a missing shovel, Rackham finds himself at odds with Chess over the “instruments” (weapons) used in the “manly art of combat.”  Simon informs Tolliver that he refuses to use the word “dwarf,” although Tolly, a diminutive person, is fine with it.  Meanwhile, Dayne and Tolly continue to repair the castle keep by knocking holes in the walls, and Tolly discovers one that leads to someplace…

Like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Medley’s Castle Waiting is a modern fable, less to do with good and evil, and focusing more on individuals rather than grand movements or events.  Castle Waiting is simply a character drama that excavates the daily lives – the mundane – and the personal histories of the characters and allows the creator to tell stories about people.

Each issue of Castle Waiting resembles a sketchbook or note tablet rather than a standard comic magazine.  Medley fills each one with a short comic book story and includes sketches here and there.  The entire package seems so much more personal and less the product of a publisher.  Reading it is like finding Medley’s notebook and peeking inside.

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