Castle Waiting (AKA A Comeback, of Sorts)

Long story short, my girlfriend of 8 years and I parted way after a very rough six months. Which is my explanation over not posting for quite awhile.

So, let's get to some comics. Namely Castle Waiting!



While my passion for reading comics over the last few months has extremely waned, when I finally decided to dive in the Castle Waiting HC I couldn't put it down.

Some of you may recall me mentioning the book before, and I actually reviewed an earlier collection during my Comic Book Galaxy days.

It's the story of, well, a castle, which, over the years has become home to many odd characters. We're introduced to this world through the Jain, who comes to the castle to escape a menacing husband and to give birth to her child.

Once there we meet Henry, the resident smith, Rackham Adjutant, the castles steward, Dinah Lucina & her son Simon, basically the inn keepers, Sister Peace, the castle's theologian, Dr. Fell, and finally Patience, Prudence and Plenty, the only holdovers from the castle's original inhabitants. Eventually we also meet Chess, the resident knight, of sorts.

A tremendous part of the books charm is writer/artist Linda Medley's pace. The book takes its time developing both story and character. Medley follows the group as they go about their day to day activities, and slowly unfolds some of the backstories.

It's weird to read a book that is extremely slow paced by today's standards, yet succeeds where so very many of todays modern comics fail. You don't know how many of these people found their way here, nor why Lady Jain had to leave her home, or who the father of her child really is, but that's not why you're reading anyway. You keep reading because you like these people, you're genuinely interested in their lives.

Medley has done something so few people do in the medium of comics, she has created something real. As you read you can't help but feel that somewhere, at some point in time, these people existed.

Unfortunately the original series didn't last past learning Sister Peace's story (which in turn gives us the story of her order and its founder), but Fantagraphics began publishing new issues last year...those I'll get to later though.

For now, seek out what is without a doubt one of the most beautiful presentations of one of the greatest works of fiction comics has ever seen.

-L