Review by Karl Verhoven

Suitor Armour begins with a dark and stormy night and the young Kirsi greeting her father when he returns home. She asks if he’s brought her anything. He has, a young fairy disguising herself as human who becomes Kirsi’s lady in waiting.

Several years later Kirsi is engaged to King Reimund, but fighting a war against the fairies keeps him busy. He’s present, though, when the court mage manifests a metallic armoured challenger to the King’s champion during a tournament. When given a rose to present to the woman of its choice, it approaches Lucia.

Purpah is the alias of Melanie Pulsipher, who knows her way around the creation of an intriguing fantasy scenario. While concentrating on Kirsi and Lucia she manages to drop in a fair amount of necessary background information while ensuring the women are likeable and other characters are introduced. It’s all so captivating that by the time Lucia’s fairy heritage again becomes relevant you’ll have been distracted into forgetting all about it. She’d been getting on so well with the Mage before he uttered “There’s no good reason for a fairy to be here” and talks about having the archers shoot it down. There’s a very naturalistic feel to the writing, as if Purpah places a character in a room or situation and only then figures out where things will go. Suitor Armor is certainly fresh and unpredictable.

The art is as appealing as the characters. While there’s a considerable chasm between opinions, no-one is really dislikeable, and that’s apparent in the way they’re drawn. Even the sinister armour, named Modeus by Lucia, has an element of warmth, and the more we come to know him, the greater that becomes despite his fearsome appearance. It works the opposite way also, as Modeus retains a sense of menace even when Purpah draws him in a comedy picnic scene. Purpah also easily overcomes the pitfall of many webcomics transferred to print where the panels can look static and dull.

Much happens, but a leisurely pace prevails overall regarding questions readers will want answers to, the list headed by wondering how it is Lucia is a castle resident if she’s a fairy. The comedy drama is finely tuned in the way of a 1990s Disney animation, and there’s more than enough going on to make you head online for the continuation rather than waiting for Volume Two.

Before the book’s end there’s even time for an equally charming bonus story.