If you’ve read TV Tropes, you probably know something about a trope called the “Bratty Half Pint”, that one child character with a big mouth who constantly talks themselves into trouble before either the hero pulls them out of it or things get worse. Unsounded, a fantasy comic by Ashley Cope, uses said trope for its main character. I’m just throwing that out as a heads-up, because even though I think it’s pretty good, there’s a lot of folks out there who might not be able to get past that.
Sette Frummagem is an abrasive, but certainly not heartless, young thief and the heir to her father’s crime ring, on a quest to have a debt paid off with the help of Duane (pronounced Dew-Ahn, not like Dwayne)- a rotting, lich like warrior with a noble demeanor and a tragic backstory. The two bicker, barter, fight thieves and various monsters, grow closer and learn about each other on their trip. Unfortunately, a dashing captain named Emil Toma (along with his sidekick Elka, who is a hoot) confuses them for members of a dangerous gang known as the Red Berry Boys, which needless to say stalls our two protagonists.
The Berrys are more than mere nuisances, all of their members so far have gotten a good amount of development. Duane’s past life gets a good deal of detail in some very well drawn sequences, promising to play a bigger role as the story progresses.
Unsounded’s universe is at times like a Charles Dickens novel with more magic. Races, various cultures, types of technology and the supernatural elements get lengthy amounts of detail, enough to where new readers might get overwhelmed. It doesn’t bother to hold your hand, so while the story is easy enough to get a grasp on in one read, I found myself wanting to go through it a second time in order to learn more about the inner workings of its world.
Duane and Sette’s character growth is believable, funny and poignant (not as much as Wrestletaint.gov’s Lancers, but it does the job), which is fortunate because it serves as a lantern against the comic’s dark atmosphere. The action sequences are quite impressive and can get fairly gory at points, though it’s all drop dead gorgeous.
The cast is designed in a sort of manga-esque happy medium where they’re realistic enough to convincingly tell the story, but cartoonish enough to be properly expressive. Click here for what I think is a very meticulously put together and pretty fun comic, despite Sette- while I liked her antics- perhaps being an acquired taste.