The 12 (Week)Days of Comics Crowdfunding, Day 9: This Land #3

[Since jumping into comics crowdfunding in March, I’ve received 12 projects in paper form. Some have arrived digitally, but I’ll wait until the paper copies arrive because I’m that type of luddite. This “Year in Review” will catalog each one…and I promise to be done by New Year’s Eve!]

Mark Abnett and his Aroha Comics label have something special going on here with the This Land series. He’s taken the core of the Polynesian Maori culture and legend and crafted it into a modern-day adventure saga that includes both men and gods…all the while never forgetting the Maori roots.

The general premise of the series is that Hell’na, a powerful creator of fire, teams with other powered mercenaries to meet the challenge of finding the demigod Maui put forth by an ancient god who has fallen from the sky. The world has succumbed to a fever, and machines no longer work (Yup, a dystopian premise. Go figure!).

This particular issue, This Land #3: Gods and Monsters, sees one of the team members transformed into a kaiju as presented on the cover in order to fight an underworld creature. The fight over (sorry for the spoiler), the team moves on to find Maui. Plus, another competing team is created! It’s accessible comic book material with heavy hints of superhero books and Lord of the Rings while, again, sticking solidly to the Maori roots.

The art in the book by P.R. Dedelis is fantastic, made even better by the deft and creative coloring of Liezl Buenaventura. This Land is a supernatural book with spectacular images to present, and they do it admirably. The covers presented here are nice, but some of the interior work is spectacular.

The packaging of the book itself warrants notice as it’s better than some trade paperbacks by major publishers. Abnett uses solid cardstock with a shiny gloss for the cover, then switches to a heavy grade paper that shows off the pitch blacks and vivid colors as good as anything I’ve ever seen.

If there’s a downside to this book, it’s that the Maori culture is laid on rather thick, and the characters are plentiful. There’s a ton to digest. This is a book that demands a second – maybe a third – reading to fully appreciate everything that Abnett is doing in the script.

And yes, this is a third issue. Which means that I took advantage of his catch-up package for the Kickstarter campaign. Here are issues 1-2, both of which are essential to understaning the characters, motivations and plots. So there’s a bit of reading to be done, and it’s time well spent.

And there’s the team. Neat group, lots of powers and personality.

The series is a successful one, leading to stretch goals being hit. This book had a cardstock mini-poster of axe-wielder Pania and a metallic trading card featuring her father, Moa.