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Starhenge is a Wondrous Blend of Time Travel & Arthurian Magic: Review
Revered artist Liam Sharp proves his talent as a writer too with an epic saga that mixes fantasy and sci-fi in a six-issue series beginning with Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar, published by Image Comics. This is a passion project for Sharp, who has been working for more than 30 years on this Arthurian epic, before Image finally picked it up. Sharp's artistic roots go back to the world of 1980s sci-fi, when he worked on the legendary magazine 2000 AD drawing many Judge Dredd stories, before moving to Marvel UK, where he authored another legendary sci-fi series, Death's Head II. These influences have been present throughout the creator's career, and they really shine in Starhenge, which could easily be the flagship title of a modern version of 2000 AD.
Starhenge's plot develops throughout three different times. In the far future, humanity is on the verge of extinction at the hands of a race of belligerent A.I.s called the Cast. The only effective weapon in this war used to be magic, something that the Cast could not compute due to being inherently illogical. However, magic has disappeared from the future, along with mankind's best defenders, the Knights of Velt. The ruler of humanity, the Ur-Queen, sends her son, Merlin, back in time to 5th century Britain to prevent the disappearance of magic at the hands of the Cast's agents. The story is told by a present-time teenager and occult fanatic, Amber Weaver, who gets dragged into this centuries-spanning war along with her boyfriend Daryl. This is Sharp's first project published with Image Comics, coming right after his critically acclaimed DC Comics titles Batman: Reptilian, written by Garth Ennis, and Green Lantern, written by Grant Morrison.
The story is born from Liam Sharp's fascination with the figure of Merlin from Arthurian lore, and more specifically Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, which he wanted to adapt faithfully into a comic. Sharp then decided to weave his own tale, mixing the Arthurian legends with sci-fi tropes, inspired by T.H.White's novel The Once and Future King, where Merlin is a wizard who lives through time backwards. The result is a love letter to 1970s and 1980s comics, but also to a variety of genre literature and movies, including pulp, sci-fi, and fantasy. It's safe to say that Starhenge would not exist without James Cameron's The Terminator or John Boorman's Excalibur.
While Starhenge's plot stands out as wildly ambitious, it's the art that clearly has the job of selling the book. The majority of the first issue is painted, but Sharp utilized a plethora of techniques, mixing digital and more traditional tools to create a unique effect. Some of the imagery is clearly recognizable. For example, the mankind of the future, especially Merlin and his mother, have an H.R. Giger-esque tone that perfectly fits the idea of body modifications (called "caring" in the comic). The scenes set in Britain's past are more pictorial, with a smooth color palette and a dream-like feeling that's reminiscent of Frank Frazetta and his many imitators. Finally, the scenes set in the present are almost exclusively in black and white, with strong use of pencils and ink, which gives them a more grounded feeling.
The heavy 1980s influences could have made Starhenge yet another nostalgia act. Instead, the book is a successful pastiche, and the reason is simply the author's rich background and experience. Conceptually and artistically, Sharp is successfully able to glue together the many themes, inspirations, and techniques used in the book. Liam Sharp's new Image Comics series Starhenge is one of the most ambitious sci-fi and fantasy projects to appear in comics in recent years, one that will push the artist to his very limits and perhaps consecrate him as one of the greatest in his generation.
Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #1 will be available July 6.
