Wahcommo

Wahcommo #1-4

by Luis Nct

Cada nueva generación, el joven más valiente de la tribu debe enfrentarse al reto de viajar al Reino Perdido del Norte, para traer consigo parte del tesoro que sus antepasados, expulsados de sus hogares por el frío y el hambre, abandonaron en tiempos remotos.

Seis son las pruebas que deberán superar los jóvenes para demostrar su valía: el sigilo, la astucia, la velocidad, la fuerza, el coraje y el acertijo. Esta vez la elegida es una mujer, pero el peso de la tradición la obligará a ser escoltada por un compañero.

Fox y Kaya emprenden la travesía provistos de sendas mitades de un mapa y del amuleto que les servirá para penetrar en el antiguo reino. Un viaje ancestral plagado de orcos, trasgos, gigantes y espectros, en el que dos jóvenes salvajes se miden, compiten y tendrán que unirse para reescribir su historia.

Wahcommo es la segunda obra larga de Luis NCT, quien ganó el premio del público en el Salón del Cómic de Barcelona por su primera novela gráfica, Sleepers (EDT, 2012).

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Adventure, Adult

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2018

About the author

Luis NCT art+life. Storyteller, comic book artist and colorist, illustrator.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're in fantasy land! There's a tribe, and they have a coming-of-age ritual, in which teen boys have to complete several tests of stealth, cunning, speed, strength, courage, and cleverness, to ultimately travel north to retrieve part of the treasure abandoned by their ancestors.



And this year one of the teen boys is a teen girl, which is reaaally controversial, but she gets to do the trials anyway.



And then we delve into yer standard fantasy questing fair, including amassing group members, and there are puzzles and there are fights and there are ruses.

The story is okay, nothing new there. The art is strange - some of it is quite nice, the lighting especially, but then action scenes tend to become visual sludge.



I've seen better from Magnetic Press.

(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers a lot of fantasy tropes. Starts off with a tribe having a contest for the next generation of "Seekers". The two winners are sent on a quest to an ancient city. Along the way this turns into your standard fantasy quest. They pick up some more members to their party and have to fight some monsters and avoid traps along the way.

The art was quite nice at times. The action scenes though devolved into an indecipherable muddle of art.

Received a review copy from Magnetic Press and NetGalley.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the plot is pretty fantasy standard (although there were some interesting undercurrents around culture and knowledge and classism and history it sort of reads like a transcript of a dungeons and dragons game where the party was split). But what made this comic really interesting was the characters and the kinetic and dream-like art. Loved the growth of the two protagonists in this short time and loved the way Nct illustated the adventure - I'd gladly read hundreds of more pages of fantasy standard plot if I got to look at his illustrations.

**Thanks to the artist, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Wahcommo' with story and art by Luis Nct is a fantasy graphic novel about two young people questing for treasure and other confusing things.

Fox and Kaya are sent from their village with 2 halves of a treasure map. They have both proven capable in contests so they are sent out together. Along the way, they pick up an odd party with skills they will need to hopefully find the treasure.

This story confused me at the start but then turned in to a pretty standard fantasy quest story. There are important things to know, but they seem to get revealed as plot points which felt a bit forced. The art is pretty good, but I had issues with reading the lettering.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

I had a hard time with Wahcommo. The characters didn't feel engaging, the story was one we've read many times over, and there were odd jumps and things happening in the story background that were never shown or discussed until used suddenly (they became more of a deus ex machina at that point). The action scenes were fairly confusing and the pace just felt off. It was not a bad read but I had hoped for something more unique.

Story: Fox is bested by Kaya in the competition that determines who will be sent to the dangerous North in order to retrieve lost treasures for the tribe. But Kaya should never have entered in the first place - women are not permitted by custom. As such, Kaya is bound to Fox and they must journey together to the lost palace of their ancestors. Along the way, they will come across subhumans (orcs, goblins), giants, outlaws, and dwarves. With only a special 'key' to unlock the final door in the ancient Northern city, Fox and Kaya must work together if both are to survive.

One thing I appreciated is that Fox and Kaya don't spend the whole book bickering or belittling each other. They form an uneasy truce made of respect for the other's abilities. So no, this isn't a romance and there are a lot of underlying themes of both chafing against gender constraints. In this regard, I think the author did an excellent job of making our characters NOT feel like modern day equivalents. The two teens felt like they were from their harsher world.

Unfortunately, there was a lot that was frustrating in the story. The side characters feature the usual 'clueless' amoral adults who make the wrong decisions. It's almost a cliché at this point that if you have protagonists under the age of 25, the adults will always be the problem and the kids always are clearsighted. I don't believe the book is geared toward tweens or teens, though, so that feels like a very odd choice. Honestly, I could have easily seen all the 'companions' and 'foils' our leads come across completely jettisoned from the story. If anything, they all felt like distractions.

The plot is one we've seen before: an almost-dystopian Earth setting where humanity has devolved to hunters and gatherers or simplistic medieval societies all based on European history. So we have taverns and royal guards mixed with nature-oriented tribal peoples interacting in the same world. There is a bit of explanation of the lore but it's very confusing and really doesn't add up to much in terms of explaining this story. Most specifically, why our leads look like elves and why there is so much Lord of the Rings everywhere isn't really covered. I can't tell if Wahcommo is futuristic or alternate Earth or even straight fantasy.

The artwork is fine. It was murky in places I wanted more clarity but for the most part the characters are expressive (though the humans/side characters were either feral or stoney looking most of the time). But the panels were interestingly laid out and there was a strong thematic quality to the coloring.

This is a complete story. The typical morals of humans never understanding the true treasure in their world and the price of greed are hammered pretty bluntly at the end. The book may pay just too much homage to Tolkien to be a great read (it feels like a dystopian Hobbit redux) but there are glimpses of excellent creativity in places. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

What with the ultra-low-res speech balloons, with their tight font getting squished and semi-legible, and with the great amount of wordless images and kind of dreamy sections, and with the artist being quite unable to design an action scene, any plot summary is going to be very unreliable here. There's a rural tribe whose youngsters have tasks to undertake while dressed up as different animals to prove they're a man. Only the best one this year is a woman. Then her and the runner-up begrudgingly go off on some mission or other, with half the relevant map each, and – oh, I don't know. The two of them become four, become three immediately, and we then get quite an extended silent section where the one tries to meet the others at their target. Some of the painted images are wonderful, but on the whole this isn't up my street visually, and perhaps the best thing story-wise is the way, in dreams and in the story that plays out, the characters seem to have some affinity with what might be thought their avatar or spirit animals. That alone is certainly not worth the price of admission, mind, as it's dropped for no reason in favour of more blurry, neon-lit ghosties later on instead. Two stars is generous.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kaya is the best warrior of her generation. She has proven herself worthy of taking the perilous journey to her tribe’s ancestral home and retrieving part of the treasure that had been left behind. There’s just one problem: she’s a girl. The tribe begrudgingly lets Kaya take the journey, but only if she brings a male warrior along. Together, Kaya and Fox must navigate treacherous wilderness and reach the ancestral home by the next full moon. However, they quickly find themselves stuck in the middle of conflicts both past and present that threaten to pull them from their path. It soon becomes clear that it will take more than just one warrior’s strength to reach the journey’s end.

I wanted to like this more than I did. The art in this graphic novel is beautiful. Compared to a lot of other graphic novels, there is relatively little dialogue or narration. This puts a great deal of emphasis on the visual storytelling and I felt it was a strength. I particularly liked the visual symbolism, especially how it is used in Fox’s premonitions. However, a lot of the meaning became lost in the jumble of the actual story.

Three stars might be a little generous when looking at the story itself. However, I think that it merely suffers from having too broad a scope. The world and its history have clearly been well thought out and the same can be said for many of the characters. Even though we only get glimpses, each character has a unique history and connections with others that tap into the greater lore of this world. However, by trying to cover it all in the span of this short adventure, we end up understanding very little. Focusing more on Kaya and Fox as they go through their journey rather than trying to include all of these extra elements would have given strength to some of the more meaningful moments.

Perhaps the biggest issue I have with this story is its uneven focus between Kaya and Fox. Where the description of the graphic novel seems to indicate the story would follow Kaya, more time is actually spent developing Fox. By the middle, we see Fox going through his journey and don’t hear about Kaya again until the very end. Clearly a lot happened to Kaya in the interim, but we learn almost nothing about it. Her whole reintroduction to the story is incredibly jarring. The story arc itself is nothing special, but Kaya’s choices at the end are where the story had the opportunity to shine. Unfortunately, I was so distanced from her journey at that point that it lost a lot of its power.

Despite its flaws, I think that this is a graphic novel worth experiencing. It is designated as Teen and YA and I think it is appropriate for this age group. There is some violence a little nudity, but it is not over the top or frequent. I think younger readers will be able to connect with these characters and their journey.

[Robyn G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

* E-ARC from Netgalley *

Graphic novels and comics are some of my favorite media to read in but sadly this one was just not doing it for me. I tend to finish them in one sitting but I had to spread this one out through a couple of days because I just couldn’t get into the story or characters. I do think this has some beautiful art, it has a painted look to it and I love it. And I like the concept of a girl participating in something meant for boys and proving them wrong, which I thought was going to be the main focus, but then the villains were introduced and that all was put in the background.

I think there is potential to make this a good story here, it just needed to be explored more. I think a novel would’ve been a better approach, but still keeping the images on the pages or something. My favorite part is when our two leads, Fox and Kaya, are separated and we follow Fox for a couple of pages. No real dialogue is said since he’s on his own but we see why he was chosen and also how capable of a character he is. It’s just so beautiful to see the journey shown with just images. Sadly that’s at the expanse of not showing everyone else and how they reach the treasure in the end. Especially when Kaya is shown to have learned all these cool new tricks and we don’t even get to see her learn them.

This is where a novel would’ve been better, we could’ve gotten separate chapters of our two leads, see their thought process and their own personal journeys. I would’ve liked more of Kaya and Fox talking regardless since it felt like there wasn’t enough. Just more moments of Fox not liking Kaya being with him but we then see them go from enemies to friends. Instead they’re just all of a sudden cool with each other.

So those are my thoughts, just wished this had been done differently, or even just making the comic longer. There’s some truly beautiful pages here that shouldn't be ignored.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book where I've actually followed through with the intention to create ARCtifacts inspired by the ARCs I read! I made printable 3D models of the amulet and door from Wahcommo over on TinkerCAD. You can check them out (and hopefully future ARCtifacts as well!) on my Twitter.

Wahcommo is a graphic novel with a lot of promise, that was not entirely fulfilled in the execution.

The conceit, while not necessarily original, was enough to be intriguing: a girl named Kaya from an unnamed tribe breaks tradition by besting all the boys and earning the right to journey north to retrieve part of their ancestors' treasure. However, to appease traditionalists, a boy named Fox is sent along with her.

The point of this book always seemed to be in my peripheral vision; almost within my grasp, but never fulling pulling into focus. The characterization of Kaya and Fox was fairly minimal, and the other characters were introduced suddenly, and were often hard to keep track of due to busy panels. The worldbuilding was clearly hinted at by various facets of the story, and there were definitely tidbits that I enjoyed (dwarves have a grudge against goblins, and also they're immune to magic!). However, on the whole, I go back to the word "busy." There were so many tidbits about so many different things; combined with the business of the panels, many of which had minimal text, it was hard to fully piece together even the parts of the worldbuilding that were relevant to the story.

Another minor grudge that I have was that at one point, Fox and Kaya get separated. I would have imagined that we would follow Kaya, since the blurb made me think that her boundary-breaking quest was the focus. However, we spend a large chunk of the center of the book with Fox and a wolf that he befriends; many pages of (aesthetically pleasing) panels with no text and no purpose other than showing us Fox's journey. Then, when he reunites with Kaya, she references several adventures that she encountered along the way, but we never get to see them. The author is entitled to make this choice, but it ran contrary to what I expected.

I still am giving it four stars because I feel like it has the bones of a good story. The premise has potential, and the mentions of the politics and history of the world certainly hint at some interesting things. Additionally, the art was generally very nice, if a little busy, especially in the action scenes. I think that perhaps there were too many ideas that went into this book, that in the execution, they all ended up being spread a little thin. However, I don't regret reading it, and I did enjoy it on the whole.

(Received from NetGalley!)

[Meduss142 · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Hola hola!🦊
Otra novela gráfica que me ha gustado por una historia llena de aventuras y de acción, a parte de sus personajes entrañables: Wahcommo, de Luis NCT.

🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊
Fox y Kaya emprenden un viaje rumbo al Reino Perdido del Norte, cada uno con su parte del mapa y un amuleto. Todo esto una excepción, ya que normalmente el viaje es en solitario pero como Kaya es mujer decidieron que Fox debía acompañarla. Y en la tribu de ambos existe la tradición de que en cada generación, el joven más valiente emprenda un viaje para traer consigo parte del tesoro que yace en ese lugar abandonado por sus antepasados en tiempos remotos. En este caso, la elegida fue Kaya.

Con sus habilidades demostradas tras enfrentarse a seis pruebas, se enfrentan a una travesía plagada de monstruos y vicisitudes de todo tipo. ¿Serán capaces de llegar a su destino? ¿Podrán adquirir esos secretos que esconde el misterioso tesoro?
🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊🗺️🦊

Es una historia que se lee muy rápido debido a la agilidad con la que se va desarrollando la trama. El diseño de los escenarios y de los personajes es una pasada, son super bonitos y originales y su final me ha gustado mucho con el mensaje que transmite. ¡Tengo ganas de leer la otra obra de este mismo autor!

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is good and the story is enjoyable if fairly standard fantasy (I like that but some people may not). The real issue for me comes from the fact that you only seem to get half a story out of this. Readers end up following only one protagonist for a solitary journey until almost the end. And while that journey is good, if it was combined with the other characters journey it would have given readers a more complete picture of what was happening. I thought maybe there was a tie-in comic but I haven't found it (if there is somebody let me know). The rushed pacing of the story as well means that you don't really get to know any of the characters and don't really even remember any of their names except Fox and Kaya, who both barely get what can be called a character arc. In the end it seems like they sacrificed a good story for an interesting premise and an ending. Reminds me a lot of Mark Millar...

I definitely wouldn't buy the book but if you can get a free copy or one from your local library then it is an interesting, hour-killing read.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 1 out of 5]

What did I just read? I'm not even sure what rating should I give it? One star or two?

So, there's a girl who's the bestest of the tribe. But no girl before her has even been the bestest. She's supposed to go on a quest to retrieve some objects from the former village her tribe used to live in. She's accompanied by a childhood friend, who's the second best.

And then? They split and they try to get back together. She's in the company of some men, there were three at the beginning, but they seemed to multiply along the way and in the end there's a bunch of them. He makes friend with a wolf. They reunited and they find the treasure: books.

Doh!

I didn't care about the characters. I dislike the art: too many different styles and dreaming scenes I hated. Not enough dialogue, which is funny since I complained about Batman Vampire having too many dialogues.

Sigh! Let's move on.

[Misa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in echange for an honest review.

Wonderful artwork that made this odd crazy fantasy story so alive. I loved that the artist didn't have to use a lot of words and lets his art talk for itself. There are some strong content that won't be adequate for kids. A story of two teenagers sent on a quest to discover the truth and the treasure of their ancestors in the far Realm of The North. During their journey, they met new characters that will help them in their adventure but at the same time they also covet this mysterious lost treasure and want a piece of it.

I really had a nice time reading this book, the artwork was so captivating and it made the story's events and actions so much interesting to follow. I truly liked it and the end was so true and good.

[Hailie Norman]

I'm always looking for new graphic novels to try, so I was happy to give this one a go. Wahcommo is a translated graphic novel, which is another thing I find excited.

Wahcommo follows to individuals who are attempting to complete their adult rites for their tribe. The story begins with a race to determine who will be able to go a mission for their tribe. There was tie between out main characters, so they set off together on an adventure. The story has lots of action and nudity. One thing I found interesting about the story is that one of the main characters on this quest is a woman, and women are not typically allowed to compete in the tribes rites.

This is a fun quick adventure story with high stakes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this title in exchange for an honest review.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each generation, challengers compete in six tests for the honor of traveling to the Lost Kingdom of the North to bring back part of a lost treasure. This year, the winner is a woman, but tradition forces her to allow a man to go with her. Kaya and Fox set off on their quest. They rescue a stranger who takes them to a city to find a wiseman. During the chaos of their escape, Fox is captured. His captors force him to track the escapees, but he misleads them and escapes. He finally catches up to the group and they start exploring the Lost Kingdom of the North's ruins, but a giant and orcs are chasing them. They learn about their people's past while exploring. They continue to search for the treasure they came for, but it is not what they expected. #Wahcommo #NetGalley

[Milou · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story in this book is fairly basic. The trials and tests mentioned in the blurb hardly feature in the actual story, and instead it is mainly a treasure hunt. The addition of orcs, goblins and giants was great, but otherwise the world wasn’t too remarkable. The characters, especially the protagonists, were very bland and lacked personality. All of it was just fine, but none of it really excited me or made me feel anything really.

Apart from the art-style that is. It was absolutely stunning, and really lifted this book up. Especially when it comes to big scenery spreads it is just amazing… and this being for a large part a travel story there is plenty of gorgeous scenery to show of.

Overall though, this one was just fine for me. Stunning artwork that lifts up the mediocre story.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, the art is gorgeous and expressive. It's loose and slightly sketch-like, but incredibly detailed. Panels and pages go by telling a complete part of the story with almost no text and you don't even notice it because the art tells the story perfectly.
The story is a great adventure tale with great action. My one complaint is that it sometimes feels too rushed. Ironically, the same thing I enjoyed about the art being able to tell the story is what sometimes makes the story itself feel rushed. I would have loved to know more about the different characters, the places they visited, and their reasons. Alas, the page count and page-turner element of the story probably didn't allow for long expositions.

Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Magnetic Press for the early read.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m rounding up to 4 stars on this because I felt like the artwork suited the nature of the story and the setting well. That’s important in a graphic novel. It’s not very wordy even for a. graphic novel and much of the story is in the art. The story is a more in depth one than it initially appears about two late teen kids on a quest to head to the far north to salvage lost treasures of their ancestors. It’s a rough and bloody world where life is cheap. Conan would probably feel pretty at home in this world. Probably teen appropriate even though bloody as it isn’t over the top gross and the violence is all plot and world relevant.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure what to expect with this one: the reviews, the artwork and the well-known Spanish auteur from Valencia caught my eye. It's fantasy. Since I had no expectations, I was pleasantly engrossed with some rather European notions of fantasy that seemed influenced by European notions of Native Americans and Settlers. There is some harmless Euro-nudity that is pertinent to the plot, but the main character is charismatic and not bitter about her goals. I took my time reading it as the artwork was sumptuous in some spots and a bit murky in others. I like it because it's odd in its own endearing unique way, if not somewhat inconsistent.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm finding myself enjoying more of these Dungeons & Dragons stories. The improvisational storytelling just seems to enticing. While there are plenty of things that are skipped over like Kaya learning magic, Wahcommo is mainly concerned with the emotional arcs characters go through. The tribal traditions between Fox and Kaya are quickly peeled away to reveal the dark secrets hidden behind their way of life. Ultimately the journey feels all the more important even if you don't know the full story. You learn about the world through the characters while growing attached to them all doing it.

[Trinity9bi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia para reflexionar en la que, para mi, ha tenido tanto peso el dibujo que ha eclipsado a la historia. El dibujo es de ese tipo que tiene muchos trazos pero no en ocasiones no es lo suficientemente definido y ha provocado que en ciertos momentos no entendiera bien las escenas.

[Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5*

[JT · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 I was not expecting to dislike this book. I didn't care for the world or characters. The story felt rushed and undeveloped. I did enjoy the art though.

[Akaiyoake · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Highland G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did.
Few minor gripes but overall I really enjoyed it.

[angus · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5

[Melvyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful art that enhances an otherwise mediocre story.

I can't emphasize enough how much I loved the art. Beautiful panels exhibiting towns and wilderness in a fantasy setting. The representation of some classic fantasy foes, such as Orcs among others, was original and bestowed a sense of dread and disgust that those creatures should. The illustrations strengthened the different levels of the story that is narrated, with clear visual distinctions between past and present for instance. Be warned though, some explicit images are present in this graphic novel.

Unfortunately, the plot doesn't live up to the creative visual mastery of the illustrations. I found very quickly that it did not quite follow the storyline I was expecting from the premise (trials? tests? chosen one?). And I struggled hard to feel any attachments to the main characters. I almost felt that some secondary characters were better written and felt more alive than the main protagonists. I didn't quite understand the setting, but, again, I adored the visual journey through this realm.

My favorite parts of this graphic novel were the pages of panels devoid of text, where the images were enough to carry you on the journey. I wonder if the entire story could have been told with no wording at all?