‘The Hunger & the Dusk’ Is the Fantasy Comic You Didn’t Know You Needed

The Hunger & the Dusk Vol.1 G. Willow Wilson (Author) Chris Wildgoose (Illustrator)

I was curious about the cover, and very glad by the narrative, as G. Willow Wilson is a fantastic writer. All of the characters know how to speak and there is not a single meaningless expletive in the dialogues (a plague of recent comics, seriously, the English language does have alternative cursing words, so you need to be creative!). The graphics have a consistent, interesting quality with nuanced faces and landscapes. You need both to build a new world coherently.

And what a world! Once mortal enemies, humans and orcs face a new foe that obliterates their differences and forces them into an allegiance: ancient humanoids, the Vangol, are murdering them equally viciously. They spring up from the ground exactly at dawn, in the twilight hours when everything seems to fade, and they are dangerously lethal.

To enforce this allegiance, the orc overlord, Troth Icemane, sends his cousin, a healer, to be with the humans. The human side is led by Callum Battlechild and his company of warriors, and the orc female, Talla, is delivered at the traditional limit between the lands of orcs and humans. There are issues of distrust, racism, and hate, but they must be overcome, as their survival is on the line.

Another fascinating character is the bride-to-be of the orc overlord: Faran Stoneback, the description of rituals and ceremonies hints at a broader history and tradition, a story of a world that is also slowly dying.

The first thing that they will realize is how the Vangol are moving, and the attack they must prepare will be a test of their newfound trust.

This first volume collects issues #1-6.