Advance Review: Time For An Unnecessary Side Quest In `Rogue Sun’ #11
by Tom Smithyman
Side quests are curious things. In gaming, they help to flesh out a story and often reward characters with hard-to-find weapons or potions or scrolls to help them beat the big bad at the end of the story. In comics, they can give new depth to familiar characters and help to introduce new ones.
That is, when they are done right.
When done poorly, side quests can feel like bloat – an unnecessary tangent that exists solely to give readers another month’s worth of adventures, without advancing the main story in any appreciable way.
The latest issue of Rogue Sun presents something in between – while also giving added meaning to the term side quest.
The story, written by Ryan Parrott, involves the hero confronting Ravyn Queen to secure the last feather of the Phoenix. Sounds interesting enough, but it has little to do with Rogue Sun’s ultimate goal of defeating the evil Hellbent. That battle, it seems, is delayed until the next issue when this story arc concludes. Instead, the hero fights the queen’s bodyguard for the honor of possessing the feather.
As in gaming side quests, Rogue Sun ends up discovering a new power in the process. But it doesn’t seem fair to the audience to string us along,
What’s worse, the creative team chose to take the side quest theme literally and present the story in the Ravyn Queen’s aviary in landscape mode. That might be an OK gimmick if the issue was treated consistently, but the pages that take place in the real world are in portrait, meaning you have to constantly flip the issue on its side. And for those unlucky enough to be reading it on a computer, good luck figuring how to adjust the settings without getting a kink in your neck.
Artist Abel makes a welcome return in this issue. After missing a few issues in this arc, his approach to the characters is appreciated. Yet, the ending of the battle with the queen’s guard is given such little emphasis, it was hard to know it was even over. It’s an issue of build up with a flat ending.
This series has been consistently good, so the occasional misstep is to be expected. Hopefully it’s nothing more than an annoying detour, like a side quest.
Rogue Sun #11 will be available for purchase on Wednesday.
Overview
A largely unnecessary issue featuring a battle that is so anticlimactic, you won’t even realize then it’s over. Also beware: the creative team thought it would be a cool idea to present part of the story in landscape mode, meaning you have to constantly flip the issue on its side to avoid neck issues.
