When the Stone King attacks the city, Ave thinks the giant wants the gem. She has been leaving the city and scaling the Stone King, a giant being of stone that wanders near the walled-in city she lives in, to retrieve a moss that grows on the shoulder of the giant that has healing properties, but on her most recent trip, she found a gem in the Stone King, one large enough she could buy her way out of her life. Ave is making it out of her apprenticeship for “the guild” – what seems to be a thieves guild – and wants to see the world, but it seems she will just be forced to stay in the city as a cat burglar. Originally presented in four single issues, the series does an excellent job of not just building its world but its characters. But hey, there are virtually no new comics right now, so it was time to track down something new to me. Plus, Kel McDonald edited a favorite Kickstarter anthology of mine, “Can I Pet Your Werewolf?” But then I saw it was a digital comic, and I understood, as I don’t tend to read much digitally.

I stumbled across this title recently when I saw someone on Twitter mention it, and I was surprised – Tyler Crook (“Harrow County”) is one of my favorite artists, and I follow his work pretty closely. This is a challenge handled well by Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook in their Eisner-nominated comiXology Originals series, “The Stone King.” But to create a new world with unique traits is a real challenge, one made even more so in comics, where you not only need to have the concept of the world, but strong visuals as well. It’s easy to lazily model your work after Tolkien or Howard with superficial changes. When writing a new fantasy story, no matter the medium, worldbuilding is key.

Writer: Kel McDonald, Artist: Tyler Crook, Publisher: comiXology, Published: 2018īy MATTHEW LAZORWITZ, WMQ Comics senior contributor If you like our picks, be sure to buy a gift card online from your local comic shop, so you can buy or order it from them when they reopen. For the next month, WMQ writers and guest contributors will offer their picks for comics, graphic novels and other things to read until the industry resumes distribution, comic shops reopen or national shelter-in-place orders subside, whichever comes first.

The Stone King by Tyler Crook