Written by: Kurtis J. Wiebe
Illustrated by: Justin Osterling
Lettering by: Jim Campbell
Colouring by: Justin Osterling
Cover by: Tomas Oleksak
Published by: Oni Press
It has been 13 years since Yale and Morgan settled down in the hidden forest settlement of Frostbrook. Having raised their twins in the seclusion of this veiled community, shrouded by trees and ancient temples. Yale, a human historian, is in his element. His wife, Morgan, an Elven warrior, is not. Although she is part of an ancient and honored profession, she merely acts as pest control in their new home. The twins also look for adventure and they may have uncovered it in a forbidden dungeon.
A fantasy based story, focusing around a blended family consisting of an elvan mother and human father and their teenage twin children. They moved to the hidden village of Frostbrook, for, what I can only assume, as a safe place to raise their children. Why they had to do this, I don’t know so I am hoping this will be explained further in the next issue. So far, the plot is rather interesting. Not only because of the unlikely pairing of Yale and Morgan, but also the hidden history involved in Frostbrook. Where dungeons and beasts exist underneath your house, home to creatures that will devour any little pet that may wander down into the caves. The scene has been set for what could be some exciting battles in the issues ahead.
We have Yale and Morgan, an unlikely pair who don’t seem to share any common interests – all except their children. Much like her mother, Rana lives for adventure and hopes to become a warrior one day. Her twin brother Griffon is much like their father, more into research and history, than practising with his bow and arrow. According to the siblings, they seem to share some sort of ‘connection’, but didn’t elaborate on it. This could be a twins bond, or a shared telepathy connection, or it could just be that they value one another above all else as they were born into this World together. This issue mightn’t even be mentioned again, but could be used as an interesting reason as to why they had to go into hiding, away from the ‘city’ their parents were from and their own birthplace.
So we have elven characters, a hidden settlement in the forest, ancient temples, underground dungeons and dangerous monsters. As well as the long dead civilization known as the Vihiri, that no one really knows anything about. It’ll be interesting to see what direction this series is going to take next and where we will end up.
This series has been written by best selling author Kurtis Wiebe, the man behind Rat Queens. Joining him on this adventure is newcomer artist; Justin Osterling with Dryad being his first published work! I must say a massive congratulations to the man, as this is a great achievement and great work so far. I can’t wait to see how their artwork progresses in the future and what other projects he will end up publishing. Dryad is to be a three issue series, all set to be released this year. There is also a Complete Volume available come November 17th 2020, where you can pre-order now on Amazon.
You can grab Issue One right now over on Oni Press and Amazon but if you can, make sure and get your copy from your local comic book shop as they are sure to be having a difficult time lately. Support your brick and mortar shops when possible folks!!
Fingers crossed we won’t have a long wait until Issue 2, as according to Amazon, Dryad #2 is scheduled to be out on the 15th July this year, all going to plan. Although this is only going to be a short series, why not go out and show your support to the team behind it. So far it has been a positive start to the comic, so let’s see where this adventure will take us!
Overall: 8/10
