Comics Features

REVIEW: Luminous Ages #1

Luminous Ages is a new fantasy comic written, created and illustrated by the talented Anthony Christou. The first issue of the ACD released comic delves into the mythical lands, introducing us to characters and alludes to the history of the comic, setting up for future issues.

As I mentioned, Christou is talented. From the off-set, it is clear that the illustrations for the first issue are nothing short of spectacular. The artwork works efficiently in telling a story with minimal dialogue for a large chunk of the issue.

Luminous Ages is a fantasy, following the likes of The Lord of the Rings and Magic the Gathering, the two of which inspired the comic. I’ll be honest, apart from Lord of the Rings, I’ve never been a big fan of the fantasy genre. I don’t hate it, but I’ve never been massively drawn to it either. Therefore I knew Luminous Ages was going to be good when it caught my attention within the first few pages.

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The first issue is very much there to introduce us to the massive world created by Christou. Crafted by dreams, the outset of Oniro was created for Luminous Ages; it inhabits all sorts of mythical creatures that have been at war for many hundreds of years. The first part of the comic is dedicated to telling the origins of the fantasy land. The first half of the comic is my favourite, as it blends the visually appealing artwork with images of battle amongst Gods and other creatures. It’s here we learn there was a war of battling Gods, who fought for many years to become the leader of the dreamland.

Spending most of the first issue divulging the origins of the comic series can be risky; if you take too long to get to the main story, it can backfire. However, in this case, Christou does it well – spending the issue setting up the huge worlds and exploring the history of the characters.

The minimalist dialogue works well in the first part of the comic, letting the artwork do the talking. This leads to the protagonist of the story. The centric character for the first issue is a young farm boy named Thrakos, who is destined for greater things, very much in the vain of Luke Skywalker. Thrakos is unaware of his family’s history and the impact they had on his universe.

Thrakos, blissfully unaware, lives on a farm with his father. It doesn’t take long for his story to really kick in to gear. As for the structure of his story so far, it follows a hero format we’ve seen before, with Star Wars being mentioned, a hero growing up unaware of his abilities and what the future has in store for it. But the massive potential for storytelling in future issues means the creator can get away with it. It will be interesting to see just where the character is taken in future issues.

The potential for this comic series is huge. As I mentioned previously, the story is only just starting in the first issue; it serves an introduction to the important characters. We’ve only just hit the surface of the fantasy, and I’m excited to see where future issues take us. The first issue has deliberately left questions wide open for future issues. I’m looking forward to seeing where the series goes next, and to see explore the world of Oniro in greater detail.

If you’re a fan of the fantasy genre, then Luminous Ages will not disappoint you. For more information on the comic, its origins and the universe, visit the Luminous Ages site.

If you are interested in helping fund future issues you can check out the comic’s Kickstarter page here.

Are you a fan of the fantasy genre? Will you be reading Luminous Ages? As always we’d like to hear from you in the comments section and on Twitter!

About the author

Josh Sammons