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The Legend of Whomper: A Thousand Men

The Legend of Whomper, Book 2: A Thousand Men by Chris Farrington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second entry of Chris Farrington’s Whomper graphical novel series, mostly a collection of previous comics sharing an overarching story, opens with the eponymous pudgy fox protagonist training with his new master, the Edgemaster. Meanwhile, his partner and dragoness love interest Kayla is at magic school, given the advice to purge her “logical side.” Furthermore, the armies of the hostile nation of Menevo are on the march, with Whomper yearning to confront them and their enigmatic leader, Emperor Nocturn. However, the Edgemaster warns him not to rush into combat, with the Emperor’s three generals having conquered many nations.

After reuniting, Whomper and Skyla fly to Valgus, battling a pig captain and his unit of earth elementals. Following this conflict, they receive information about Emperor Nocturn’s generals, which include the black female science-loving unicorn Limerick, the male “undefeated” tiger Haiku, and the vague and possibly two-headed Couplet. After battling a few more unit captains, they fly to Fox City, with Whomper reuniting with his father, with the vulpine warrior running away from his family when he was seven. The novel further reveals Whomper’s backstory, encompassing his training with Gryzak and Lyktor.

The imperial army invades Fox City, with Whomper and Skyla flying to Emperor Nocturn’s airborne fortress, where they battle his generals (whose backstories come to light) and confront the imperial leader himself, with the graphic novel exposing secrets that include his appearance and species. After the conflict, more of Whomper’s backstory is revealed, including what became of his mother and what motivated him to become a warrior. The graphic novel concludes with Whomper confronting a priest worshipping Xilinx in a Raccoon City graveyard, followed by an anecdote with Dextrose and his wild cat, Taffy.

Overall, I enjoyed the second installment of Farrington’s graphic novel series, having enjoyed its predecessor. While the animal character designs are beyond cute, there is some mature content, like occasional cannibalism and blood, exemplifying the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The action is easy to follow, the continuity between it and the first book is clear, humor abounds, the character backstories are intricate, and the battle scenes are astounding. However, issues exist like the often-unreadable font and maybe some name inconsistencies. Regardless, those who liked its precursor will enjoy the sequel, and I will continue reading the series.

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Eulalia!

Posted on August 14 by Remy St. Gallen

Eulalia! by Brian Jacques
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although this yarn of Redwall, written by the late Brian Jacques, occurs chronologically well beyond its initial entry, it contains a structure like the stories that occur beforehand. However, the setting this time is the mountain stronghold Salamandastron, where a Badger Lord tells a story to his daughter. The first chapter after the prologue introduces some of the main antagonists aboard the Bludgullet, spearheaded by the vulpine Captain Vizka Longtooth, with his entourage known as the Sea Raiders. The badger Gorath also plays a significant role, being a refugee who takes solace in the stories of Redwall and Salamandastron.

Gorath quickly finds himself a prisoner of Vizka’s forces, with the hare Maudie of the mountain sanctuary tasked with finding a badger lord to bequeath the legendary fortress. Maudie finds herself the hostage of sand lizards. Meanwhile, Redwall is relatively at peace, although the vermin kidnaps one of its residents, the hedgehog Orkwil Prink (initially expelled from the Abbey due to his thievery, a first among the “good” creatures). The hares of Salamandastron, among them Maudie, who gets in trouble for serving soup too hot, eventually rendezvous with the shrews of Guosim, its current Log-a-Log Luglug.

Another group of adversaries arises, the Brownrats led by Gruntan Kurdly, with a power struggle between his forces and Vizka’s. Gorath soon meets Orkwil and goes with him to Redwall, where the badger remains abed for much of the book. Gorath meets other badgers like the female Salixa, eventually accepting his destiny as heir to Salamandastron. Several well-described battles round out the nineteenth story, and as with its predecessors, plenty of good poetry is present. Overall, this is another enjoyable tale of Redwall, although, like most of its predecessors, most of its elements are derivative, such as depicting specific animals in black-and-white terms.

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