His Dream of the Skyland

His Dream of the Skyland, written by Anne Opotowsky and Aya Mortin is the first volume in The Walled City Trilogy, a comic I became aware thanks to Andy Shaw's review of it on Grovel (found here). I knew immediately that this was a comic I had to get my hands on, since it seemed like something that would be right up my alley and I was not disappointed.

Set in Hong Kong sometime between the two world wars, His Dream of the Skyland introduces the reader to Lu Song; a young man who has just gotten his first job, at the post-office. There he is tasked with the job of sorting so-called 'dead letters'; letters that, for some reason, could not be delivered. Being a diligent youth and possessing a talent for solving riddles, Song sets out to find the addressees of the letters. His task soon takes him into the no-man's land of Kowloon walled city, where he gradually finds himself becoming more and more involved with the lives of its inhabitants.

Anne Opotowsky is a name that was completely unknown to me before reading His Dream of the Skyland, but she has apparently written for several movies and TV-shows and she definitely shows her talent as a storyteller here, crafting an engaging plot and populating it with a cast of vividly drawn characters. The most prominent character, naturally, is Song. He's a good protagonist; a young man on the cusp of adulthood, Song is something of a romantic and a dreamer. After his father, a petty thief, is sentenced to prison for a year, Song has to take on the role as the primary breadwinner of his family. During the course of the volume, Song becomes more and more aware of the harsh realities of the world and the corruption that festers under Hong Kong's seemingly well-kept surface. His is not the only story found between His Dream of the Skyland's covers, however: A sub-plot focuses on Song's acrobat friend Xi becoming the protege of shady businessman Mr. Furnier. There's also the mystery surrounding the disappearances of children from within the walled city. A mystery which the local authorities have chosen to turn a blind eye to.

Being the first volume, His Dream of the Skyland has the important job of introducing the reader to the characters and the world they inhabit as well as set up story-lines that will, hopefully, get resolved in later volumes. This, Opotowsky succeds admirably at. I've read through His Dream... twice now and never found it to be less than completely engrossing.

Aya Morton is another name that's completely new to me, but her artwork seen in His Dream... is certainly interesting. Her panels are packed with details and often she has multiple actions going on into a single panel. In addition, while there's nothing overtly supernatural to the story, the heavy use of the color blue gives the comic an almost dreamlike feeling. Upon my first read-through, there were times when I found the layout a bit confusing and have to look twice at certain pages to be sure I had grasped what was going on, but since that was not a problem I had upon my re-read, so I'm willing to chalk it up to me not being used to Morton's style.

All in all, His Dream of the Skyland comes highly recommended and I'm looking greatly forward to read the other volumes in The Walled City Trilogy, of which the second has already been out for some time.