Vessels is a project I have followed since the first Kickstarter went through and I must admit it’s one of my favorite new IP’s to have come out recently. When dealing with fantasy anything is possible and the world of Vessels is proof of that. Fantasy worlds are similar to sci-fi in that they’re only limited by the imagination of the creators. Luckily for Vessels’ fans Cook has a wild imagination that is constantly growing and helping to make Vessels something special. With Cook’s imagination and the art team of Desquitado, Lehmann, and Myers bringing it all to life I see Vessels becoming a gold standard for indie comics.
Vessels is centered around a hero named Wake as she navigates the world of Cairnthala. Cairnthala is a visually stunning world that has a lot in common with typical elves and orcs fantasy worlds but at the same time is vastly different and original. During the events of issue one the reader was introduced to the world and has been slowly fed plot details through fun action and character development. Wake is a strong character that is easy to root for as her good intentions are clear and obvious. Overall the plot is interesting and hints at possible reasoning behind origins of the bad guy, The Eye, who Wake battled in the first issue. After events in the first issue Cairnthala has been bombarded with strange objects like huge teddy bears. As I said, the plot is interesting, easy to speculate on what is going on, but even more fun reading and watching it all unfold.
With a world so vast and characters so complex I feel like the art could easily be skimped on and the book would still look pretty good but the quality of work Desquitado and Lehmann have put up is nothing short of breath taking. Desquitado has extensive and stunning attention to detail and every single line on every single panel is precise and meaningful. Desquitado’s style is up there with some of the greats working right now and I feel he could easily pencil and ink a book for the big two. The only thing that could make Desquitado’s art better is the eye popping colors that Lehmann puts down. When I say popping I mean it really jumps out at me. Not that it’s over bright, in fact the color palette is reasonable for a fantasy book, but some of the subtle ways Lehmann adds in things like shadows and light projection from an open window are nothing short of brilliant. As a team I think these two deserve an award or at least I feel like this series needs to sell out, after I get my copies of course.
Myers isn’t just a good letterer, he is actually at the top of the indie letterers game. In the conversation of indie letterers there are only two names that come to mind and Myers is one of them. I really can’t say enough good stuff about Myers; his captions are fitting and the fonts have the perfect feel to them, his actions and location lettering are more than just a finishing touch he actually makes them part of what makes Vessels a special book. To be honest, I would only consider Myers for a project of mine, and if I had too I would wait as long as it took to get him on board.
Vessels is available at Comichaus as well as Card Shark Comics website.
