An Introduction to Reya

Very soon I will be posting up an interview with Morag Lewis, the creator of several web and print comics including the completed series ‘Looking for the Sun’ and the ongoing webcomic ‘Ambient Rhythm’, both published by Sweatdrop Studios (check Morag’s own website toothycat.net to read most of her comics for free online, or the Sweatdrop Studios shop to buy print editions).

In our interview we focused on her soon-to-be-released comic, ‘Reya’, published by Markosia, as well as talking about many all-important comics topics (like desserts ^_~ ).   ‘Reya’ is a comic which debuted in 2008 – Chapter One is available to read for free on Myebook and the entire comic should be available to read for free online and as a print edition soon (I’ll post an update when the full comic is released).  The writing, penciling and inks are all done by Morag and the colour work on the first few pages is by Natalie Roberts.

The comic is named after its lead character, the young girl Reya, who has just moved from her home village to a new town to study magic.  She is a little confused however because, as far as she knows, she has no magic within her and therefore cannot study it properly.

Neither can I, unfortunately, tell you much more of the plot, as with only one chapter to read there’s not an awful lot that can be said at this stage.  However, if you’re hungry for some more Reya straight away, you might be happy to know that this is not the first time we have been graced with her presence: she was originally part of a short story that was submitted to a past Tokyopop ‘Rising Stars of Manga’ competition.  Unfortunately she didn’t win, but her tale can be found in Sweatdrop Studios’ ‘Stardust’ anthology, which I reviewed in a previous blog entry.

Like her previous incarnation, the general feel of the comic ‘Reya’ is all-ages friendly.  Morag has mentioned that the story will get darker as it progresses, but she hopes that it will remain accessible and enjoyable to as wide an audience as possible.  The art style’ will be familiar to anyone to has read the author’s other work – it very much has her signature look to it.  The colour pages by Natalie Roberts are a treat for online readers but it can be assumed that, because of high printing prices for full colour works, the printed edition will probably be black and white only.  I recommend checking out the colour pages online even if you are planning to buy the print edition as they are very well executed, as you can see:

Thus ends my introduction to ‘Reya’ – as said previously I will upload the interview with Morag ASAP, and keep your eyes peeled for a future announcement of the release of the full edition!