It is rare that I review a comic right out of the gate. The pains of birth that the cartoonist goes through (in mapping out the comic, getting into a regular artistic schedule, learning the characters, and so forth) can cause even experienced cartoonists to give up and move onto other things. The shoals of hiatus are a threat even to experienced cartoonists, let alone new artists; the old Keenspace was filled with the stillborn remains of hundreds of comics that never even posted a single update, with the weight of preparing the comic having crushed the spark of imagination under its dread weight. But in many ways The Phoenix Requium was born months ago. Today was just its first actual update.

TPR is the brainchild of Sarah Ellerton, the cartoonist behind the award-winning fantasy epic Inverloch. Ellerton’s notes about the comic states it is a supernatural/horror comic set in an alternative Victorian England setting. Much like with Inverloch, TPR is planned to update with multiple pages (though Ellerton has not yet decided if she will update weekly or more frequently than that). This concept actually has considerable merit; a problem with epic stories such as Clan of the Cats and Megatokyo lies in the fact each page offers but a snippet of information, while Ellerton is able to draw scenes and increase the feel of momentum within her comic. Slower character-building parts work better because instead of dragging out through a half dozen updates, it can be done in one or two.

While TPR has but four story-pages and a cover page (and thus not really enough to reveal much plot or storyline without utilizing such overdone traditions as narrative exposition revealing back-story in a manner that often does more harm than good), what we see reveals enough to hook readers. The character wandering through snow-swept fields, struggling to reach civilization… something about him, and his thoughts at the end, these leave me wanting to know more about this man. Further, Ellerton has improved her artistic skills since the end of Inverloch; the trees at the start were so realistic I wondered at first if a photograph had been photoshopped in (a trick some cartoonists have utilized in the past). Even without Ellerton’s past acclaims, the use of silence to tell the tale and breathtaking artwork would have me waiting for more. Add in her prior work, and I have no choice but to recommend this comic.