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Meridian, published by the new comics company CrossGen, is a
book I find myself liking, despite several misgivings. Written by
Barbara Kesel and drawn by Joshua Middleton, the book has an
enjoyable story and an art style, while a little strange, grows upon
you quickly.
Perhaps most interesting is the setting, a world called Demetria.
According to the background, explosions sent large rocks into the
sky, where they stayed (still in the world's atmosphere), and
people built cities on them. While how it happened seems a silly
story to me, and rather unlikely (I'd have rather been told that
mages put them up there to build more easily defensible cities), it
does make for a neat setting, as these floating rock cities are cool
looking, as are the flying ships used to sail between them.
The story begins on the island of Meridian (hence the title), the
ship builders' island. The main character is Sephie, adorable 16
year old blonde daughter of King Turos. Well, you know, normally I have a thing
against adorable blonde teenagers, but as the story progresses, Sephie
becomes more and more likeable as a character, as she exhibits both
brains and bravery that one might not expect from one so young and
gullible looking.
Early on, Turos (whose health has been failing in recent days) suffers a
fatal heart attack, and his brother Ilahn engineers an attempt at Sephie's
life so he can take her to his own island, Cadador. The reasons for this
will be pointed out in just a moment. Sephie begins to realize that her
Uncle may not be as nice as he's trying to make himself out to be.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, his soldiers are taking over Meridian,
while her friends do their best to flee to safety.
There is one main thing that I find incredibly stupid about this book, one
thing that ties all of CrossGen's current books together (there are four,
with a fifth starting in the beginning of November, it may be hitting the
comic shops shelves as you read this): some sort of god or mystic
being or whatnot is bored with the worlds. There's not enough conflict.
On the advice of another being, it, it chooses to "mark" people on
various worlds with its sigil. The sigil grants them powers. The bearers of
these sigils are supposed to attract the attention of a group called The
First (subject of CrossGen's latest book), and initiate conflict or
something like that.
This sigil is stupid looking, a variant on the yin-yang. Obviously they
didn't spend much time thinking it up. In the first issue, when Turos and
Ilahn are talking, a bright light comes and marks them both with this sigil,
and this causes Turos to have his heart attack. When Sephie rushes
towards him, the sigil gets transferred to her. When Ilahn discovers that
his sigil had granted him powers, he decides he better keep Sephie
around, probably so he can have use of her powers, too. Pathetically, he
seems to have destructive powers, whereas she has protective and/or
possibly life giving powers.
While this is rather silly, and CrossGen's other books look just as silly or
worse (though at least well-drawn), the great character interaction and
enjoyable art saves Meridian, making it a book I look for month after
month. It's only in its fifth issue, still early enough to jump on (a handy
synopsis of the past events is in the front cover, if you can't find back
issues). While I cannot speak either way for any of CrossGen's other
books, I would definitely recommend Meridian. Do what I do.... forget
how she got the silly powers and how the cities got in the sky, and just
enjoy an otherwise good book.
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