Lore

(IDW, 2003, 2004)
™ and ©2003 Ashley Wood

Ever wonder where leprechauns and other myths come from? Or, more curiously, what became of them? Lore addresses this rich and brilliantly simple idea by introducing an equally brilliant and simple solution: They’ve been chased underground by a centuries-old secret society. But, today, many of these mythical entities are inexplicably reappearing.

It’s a promising, intriguing premise. Unfortunately, Louise and Wood’s fractured and near-incomprehensible execution takes a lot of the intrigue away before the idea is even established. It would have been ridiculously simple to hook the reader early on; the idea of gorgons running amuck in modern Greece is enough to captivate anyone with a pulse in the intended audience. Instead, though, developments like these aren’t revealed until midway through the story and are then only mentioned in passing, at that.

So readers have to endure a series of seemingly unconnected mysteries, journal entries, and military operations before even getting a clue as to what’s going on. Louise and Wood boldly venture into Neil Gaiman territory but are clearly out of their league, delivering the surface fantasy elements but failing to instill any kind of depth or cohesion. And Wood’s usual smoky, vague illustrations, normally likeable, only further cloud whatever sense could have been made out of all this.

Louise and Wood had 48 pages to make their case—and fail. For six bucks, readers deserve more. The concept remains enticing, but only the most patient and hopeful readers will want to come back after this disappointing introduction.

— Jim Johnson

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