An issue that fantasy comics sometimes share with superhero comics lies in the effective portrayal of fight scenes. Swords and sorcery are a tradition with fantasy running back to Beowulf (the mythic saga, not the movie) and other ancient myths. Indeed, as artist/writer Jennifer Diane Reitz once said, these ancient myths in some ways were the first superhero stories with greater-than-human heroes facing great odds to overcome that which mere mortals could not face. The problem arises in the effective pacing of imagery and conflict so that the story flows smoothly while readers can still tell what’s going on. This is a greater issue with fantasy webcomics with the gradual update pace.

Wayfarer’s Moon started out with one such conflict. Indeed, going through the comic, half of the strips either lead up to or directly involve fighting. And this is part of the reason I’ve held off on reviewing WM. The comic is beautifully drawn with an eye to detail and an effective color scheme. But of the protagonists, one was seen intermittently and the second had a bare minimum of actual characterization to explain her motives. The issue at hand is that WM is an epic fantasy story presented online and updating twice a week. As such, it is going to take time for the plot to develop.

What’s more, the story starts with a fight between a hooded half-elven archer and a band of soldiers, rather than the more traditional forms of a young hero preparing to leave home (though that happens later with the character of Lily). One thing that struck me was how Iri (the archer) fought in silence, so unlike so many protagonists before. The evolution of the story and the appearance of a likely antagonist likewise felt fairly natural (and gave us a third potential protagonist in the captive shapeshifter Haith). These elements help WM stand out from other fantasy stories, and though I’ve little idea where the story is headed, I do recommend it to fans of the genre.