TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS – @topshelfcomix
CARTOONIST: Christian Slade
ISBN: 978-1-891830-90-7; paperback with French flaps (May 2007)
88pp, B&W interiors; full-color, double-spread cover; $10.00 U.S.
Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings is a 2007 original graphic novel from writer-artist Christian Slade. A paperback original with black and white interior art, Sprouting Wings is the first in a series of five graphic novels featuring a young woman and her “Korgi” pup. The Korgi series is a pantomime or wordless comic, in which the story is told without word balloons, sound effects, caption boxes, or any other kind of text. The Korgi series is ostensibly a children’s and young readers series, but it is also an “all-ages” series that children, teenage, and adult readers can enjoy.
The fifth and final entry in the series, Korgi (Book 5): End of Seasons, is due for release some time in 2020 (as of this writing). Christian Slade is a comic book creator and former animator for the Walt Disney Company, where he worked on the 2003 animated feature film, Brother Bear.
Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings opens with an introduction from one of the book's characters, “Wart.” He is a frog-like creature that wears what looks like one of the “sorting hats” from the Harry Potter book series. Because Korgi's narrative is wordless, Wart's introduction provides readers with information on such things as the story's setting, environment, characters, creatures, and history.
The story opens in a faraway, pastoral land of woods, mountains, lakes, cliffs, and, of course, villages. “Korgi Hollow” is a village that is the home of the land's last known “Korgis” (which seem like a breed of the dog type known as the “Welsh Corgi”). Korgis live with their companions, the woodland people known as “Mollies” (humans). According to Wart, the Korgis made the Mollies, who have little strength and very few smarts, a stronger and happier community. Even standing on all four paws, some Korgis are as tall as the Mollies.
We meet a Korgi pup named “Sprout,” and his young female Mollie companion, “Ivy.” While harvesting berries with the rest of the Mollies and Korgis, Sprout chases a flying insect. When he does not return, Ivy goes looking for him. After they reunite, Sprout and Ivy go on a great adventure and face many dangers. The most dangerous is the monster who lives beyond Korgi Hollow, the gigantic “Gallump,” who wants to make a soup out of Sprout and Ivy. Can the two escape Gallump and his minions and also keep them from finding the locations of Korgi Hollow?
THE LOWDOWN: I first read Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings thanks to a review “galley” copy I received from the book's publisher, Top Shelf, back in 2007. I never got around to reading the books that followed in the series, but I meant to do so. My 2007 review of Sprouting Wings turned out to be an enduring favorite with readers.
Christian Slade’s art recalls the pen and ink book illustration of the first half of the 20th century. The art is drawn entirely in pencil art, with Slade using cross-hatching and line work to add exacting detail to the drawings of characters and settings. Slade's art also has that gentle lamp-lit quality found in some of Walt Disney's animated features and short films. I think this Disney-esque style is perfect for a children’s illustrated book or comic book. I see Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings being as much a picture book as it is a graphic novel.
Sprouting Wings' story has a tender hook – a young heroine and her pet playing in the safe magical woodland. The thrills, drama, and conflict come from the danger lurking behind a tree, like “Creephog, the creature that is always spying on Sprout and Ivy. The villains are dangerous enough and so imaginatively designed and illustrated as to interest a young reader. In fact, the danger and thrills are considerably less intense than the content found in some of Walt Disney's most beloved and famous animated features. Nothing in Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings is as scary as the enormous black dragon into which Maleficent transforms in Sleeping Beauty (1959).
There is something about Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings that I find attractive – something more than the prettiness of the art. That something may be that Slade's illustrations make me think of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved children's fantasy novel, The Hobbit (1937), which I have read more times than I can remember. Heck, if you gotta remind a reader of something he loved as a child, there aren't too many better reminders than The Hobbit.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Comic book readers who enjoy all-ages comic books like Andy Runton's Owly series and also Jeff Smith’s Bone comic book and graphic novel series may also like Korgi (Book 1): Sprouting Wings.
A-
7.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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