abbracadabbling: Comic Stuffers: None Better Than 'The Stuff of Legend'

17 December 2009

Comic Stuffers: None Better Than 'The Stuff of Legend'

A proud, deceptively fierce Indian princess. A jack-in-the-box Jester skilled with hatchets. A pig with a wealth of information and little faith. A wooden duck named Quackers and a Teddy Bear with fangs. A boy's beagle and a fallen toy soldier. These are the characters of Th3rd World Studios' The Stuff of Legend, a brilliantly told story that borderlines as Guillermo del Toro fairy tale fashioned within a mythic context not too different from Tolkien's Hobbit.

Legend's about as far from what anybody might think of a usual comic book fare; at 52 pages formatted more like a storybook than a comic, and only the conventional use of word bubbles and the beautifully rendered illustration with colors that reflect the books World War II backdrop between its covers gives any hint that it might be. The story centers around a group of toys who venture beyond the confines of a their bedroom world when their owner, a young boy just on the verge of growing up, disappears without a trace. It's when the boy's not around, of course, that the toys come to life -- as they did in Pixar's Toy Story -- and as they set out to find their lost owner, the adventure that awaits them as darker than anything Disney would dare put on the silver screen. Literally and figuratively, the boy's brave band of toys will risk life and limb as they venture into the realm of The Dark, to reclaim and save a young child from the clutches of an all-too-real Bogeyman.

Definitely not intended for young readers, Legend otherwise has a universal appeal, regardless of gender or age. It's at once warm and scary, and its creators produce as fine of writing and artwork that we've ever seen. Considering Th3rd World is not Marvel or Disney, the book's distribution doesn't come close to mainstream superhero comics, so finding a copy might be a little difficult. Legend #1 was published in August, and the current second issue came out in October. Issue #3 is scheduled for an early Spring 2010 release.

We checked, and both issues to date are available at Th3rd World Studios online shop, but the website notes few #1's remain, and that's already the issue's second printing as well. Legends earned nothing but praise from reviewers across the web, and it'll get the same from whomever you intend to find it in their stocking. With only two issues out, and two left to go, its the perfect size, and more than ideal adventure, for anyone on your list.

We've got the covers of both books for you below, as well as a few pages from The Stuff of Legend's amazing second issue. To buy The Stuff of Legend online, use our link at the bottom, tonight! Ho, Ho, Ho!