Written By: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Jeff Lemire
Cover Artist: Jeff Lemire
Lettering by: Steve Wands
Published By: Image Comics
Royal City is a comic book that wasn’t on my radar at all, a last minute impulse purchase at my local bookstore brought me into Royal City Volume 1 and the troubled family within it.
I’ve been a fan of Jeff Lemire’s writing for a little while with his run on DC’s New 52 Animal Man. Royal City showcases Lemire’s great writing and his art, with a rough art style and awesome watercolors Lemire paints a family drama in a desperate city.
If you haven’t read the first issues I highly recommend them, the story follows a dysfunctional family, all haunted in some way by their deceased family member Tommy. In issue #11 another piece of the puzzle is put in place to finding out what happened to Tommy before his passing and we learn more about the new family member, the niece Olive. I’m keeping this review spoiler-free, so it won’t ruin the story for you, Royal City is only going to issue #14 so a lot will be unveiled in the next few issues.
What Lemire does so well in Royal City is that he puts real weight to his characters problems, things that hit home for people like crumbling careers, failing marriages and drug abuse to name a few and how these characters are navigating their lives among the chaos of daily life. Overall I’m impressed with this series and how impactful it turned out to be as a family drama.
Overall: 8/10
Canadian indie comic book writer, self publisher of scribbles and former managing editor for a small comic book company.
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